Can a Pregnant Woman Transmit Syphilis to Her Unborn Child?

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. —

THE QUESTION

Can a pregnant mother pass on syphilis to her baby?

Dr. Sunil Joshi, the City of Jacksonville’s Chief Health Officer
Chad Nielsen, Infection Prevention Expert
Florida Department of Health

Yes, a pregnant mother can pass on syphilis to her baby

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease that can be cured with antibiotics. But if you don’t treat it and you get pregnant, you pass it on to your baby.

“You definitely can,” Dr. Sunil Joshi said. “In fact, if you have syphilis as a pregnant woman, and you have not been treated for it, untreated syphilis, the chances of passing that on to your baby during pregnancy approaches 100%. So, there’s a very, very high chance that you will pass it on.”

Congenital syphilis can be deadly.

“There’s about a 40% chance that that baby will be a stillbirth or die in the first year of their life,” Dr. Joshi said.

“It could cause a spontaneous abortion of the baby. It could cause uterine defects of the fetus, it could cause all sorts of issues,” Chad Nielsen said. 

That’s why they say it’s important to know your syphilis status and be treated if you have it.

“Good adherence to safe sex practices and proper testing and treatment can eliminate this. But unfortunately, we’re not seeing that we’re seeing rising numbers of syphilis amongst adults in Jacksonville, as well as congenital syphilis, which means people are actually carrying syphilis and passing it on to their unborn babies.”

The latest data from the Florida Health Department shows in 2022 the congenital syphilis rate in Duval County was more than double Florida’s rate.

“Newborns with syphilis is also on the rise. In fact, 275 out of every 100,000 live births have syphilis,” Dr. Joshi said.

So yes, we can verify a mother can pass syphilis on to her baby during pregnancy.

The Florida Health Department says to protect your baby you should be tested for syphilis at least once during your pregnancy.

“Congenital syphilis is one of those things that we very rarely talk about,” Dr. Joshi said.  “We need to promote the importance of being diagnosed early and treated during pregnancy because that’s another way for us to prevent stillbirth but also death in the first year of life with our babies.”

Signs of syphilis in adults can include a single sore or multiple sores that usually last three to six weeks. Sores are usually firm, round, and painless. Even after the sore goes away, you still need to be treated to stop your infection. And keep in mind, you can have syphilis without having any symptoms.