Comparison of Maternal Sera, Cord Blood, and Neonatal Sera for Detecting Presumptive Congenital Syphilis: Relationship With Maternal Treatment

Chhabra, Rakesh; Brion, Luc P.; Castro, Martha; Freundlich, Lawrence F.; Glaser, Joy H.

doi:10.1097/00006254-199306000-00012

Cited by 8 publications

(11 citation statements)

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“…All infants born to mothers with positive serologic tests for syphilis should be evaluated by a quantitative nontreponemal serologic test within the first month of life (43). Serum from the neonate is the preferred specimen, since cord blood may produce false-positive results (52). The diagnosis of congenital syphilis is complicated by passive transfer of antibodies from mother to infant, but most of these antibodies should be catabolized and undetectable in noninfected infants by age 6 to 12 months (36,43,325).…”

Section: Diagnosismentioning

confidence: 99%

Syphilis: Review with Emphasis on Clinical, Epidemiologic, and Some Biologic Features

1999

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SUMMARY Syphilis is a chronic disease with a waxing and waning course, the manifestations of which have been described for centuries. It occurs worldwide, and the incidence varies significantly with geographic location. Transmission is mainly by sexual contact. The causative organism, Treponema pallidum, was first described in 1905, but because of the inability to culture the organism and the limitations of direct microscopy, serologic testing is the mainstay of laboratory diagnosis. The disease has been arbitrarily divided into several stages. The primary stage is defined by a chancre at the site of inoculation. The secondary stage is characterized by a polymorphic rash, lymphadenopathy, and other systemic manifestations. A variable asymptomatic latent period follows, which for epidemiologic purposes is divided into early (<1 year) and late (>1 year) stages. The early stages (primary, secondary, and early latent) are potentially infectious. The tertiary stage is the most destructive and is marked by cardiovascular and neurologic sequelae and gummatous involvement of any organ system. Congenital infection may result in protean early or late manifestations. Unlike many other bacteria causing infectious diseases, the organism remains sensitive to penicillin, and this remains the mainstay of therapy.

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Section: Diagnosismentioning

confidence: 99%

Syphilis: Review with Emphasis on Clinical, Epidemiologic, and Some Biologic Features

1999

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“…These tests occasionally produce positive results in patients for whom there is no evidence of syphilitic infection, called biologic false-positive (BFP); this term is meant to distinguish BFP results from positive reactions owing to technical errors (e.g., Wharton jelly contamination in cord blood specimens leads to technical false-positive reactions) [279,306]. Nontreponemal antibody crossreacts with more than 200 non-T. pallidum spirochetal antigens (although not with the agents of Lyme disease) and can produce false-positive results.…”

Section: Indirect Serologic Identificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For antenatal care to work, testing must be available and accessible. Ideally, every woman who becomes pregnant should undergo at least one serologic test for syphilis during the first trimester [179,306,350,444]. Accessibility argues that testing and treatment should be free of charge; cost to the patient has been identified as the greatest impediment to syphilis testing in sub-Saharan Africa [113].…”

Section: Prenatal Screeningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Syphilis

Kollmann¹,

Dobson²

2011

Infectious Diseases of the Fetus and Newborn

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“…Serology should be sent for quantitative non-treponemal tests using the same assay as that performed on the mother to enable comparison of titres. Cord blood is inadequate for screening since sera can be non-reactive even when the mother is seropositive and contamination with maternal blood may occur 40. A guide for interpretation of the results of non-treponemal and treponemal serological tests is given in table 2 41.…”

Section: Diagnosismentioning

confidence: 99%