日本性感染症学会誌 Journal of Japanese Society for Sexually Transmitted Infections

We report a case of successful prevention of vertical syphilis infection despite the suspected pathological findings of Treponema pallidum infection on the umbilical cord. A 35-year-old woman, gravida 6, parity 4, was visiting a midwife after she became pregnant and was not tested for syphilis serum reactivity early in her pregnancy. She experienced pudendal pain at 17 weeks of gestation and visited our hospital. She was diagnosed with syphilis for the first time and treated with oral amoxicillin (1500 mg/day). Her symptoms soon disappeared, and serum serological tests for syphilis became negative at 27 weeks of gestation. No fetal abnormalities were noted in the fetal ultrasonography during pregnancy. Her course of pregnancy was uneventful. She delivered a single healthy baby. Although pathological examination of the placenta and the umbilical cord revealed the deposition of collagenous fibers around the umbilical cord vein, which was suggestive of T. pallidum infection of the umbilical cord, T. pallidum itself was not detected. The newborn baby was free for syphilis both physically and serologically.