How does syphilis affect a baby

Need help? Frequently asked questions Contact us. Baby Caring for your baby Feeding your baby. Ambassadors Ambassadors Celebrity Advocate Council. Mission stories Spotlights Impact Stories. Syphilis in pregnancy. E-mail to a friend Please fill in all fields. Please enter a valid e-mail address. Thank you! Your e-mail was sent. Save to my dashboard Sign in or Sign up to save this page. Saving Just a moment, please. You've saved this page It's been added to your dashboard. In This Topic. What is syphilis?

Miscarriage is when a baby dies in the womb before 20 weeks of pregnancy. Premature birth. This is birth that happens too soon, before 37 weeks of pregnancy. Fetal growth restriction also called growth-restricted, small for gestational age or small for date and low birthweight. Low birthweight is when a baby is born weighing less than 5 pounds, 8 ounces.

Problems with the placenta and the umbilical cord. The placenta grows in your uterus womb and supplies your baby with food and oxygen through the umbilical cord. Congenital syphilis may cause the placenta to grow large and the umbilical cord to be swollen, which can cause problems with how they work to support your baby in the womb. This is when a baby dies in the womb after 20 weeks of pregnancy. What are the signs and symptoms of syphilis and how is syphilis treated?

Stages of syphilis include:. Fever Swollen lymph nodes. Lymph nodes are glands throughout the body that help fight infection. Sore throat Hair loss Headaches Weight loss Muscle aches and fatigue.

Fatigue is being really tired and having little energy. Vision problems, like blindness Damage to internal organs, including the heart Neurological problems.

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Treatment after the fourth month will usually cure both mother and fetus. The likelihood that your fetus will contract the infection also depends upon the stage of your syphilis. The more recently you contracted syphilis, the higher the risk that you will pass that infection on to the fetus. Mother-to-child transmission is much less common if you are in the latent or late tertiary stage of the illness. Some newborns infected with syphilis have no symptoms at all, or the symptoms may be so extreme that they cause brain damage and death.

At birth, a child who has the infection may not have a positive blood test, because the disease can take weeks to show up on those tests. For this reason, if you are considered high-risk for having syphilis, your baby needs to have blood tests done every few weeks after birth.

Early in the course of the illness, infants will have skin eruptions with fluid-filled blisters on the palms of their hands and soles of their feet.

Their noses may produce a puslike or bloody discharge. Infected infants often fail to thrive. Great harm can result, including blindness, deafness, severe intellectual deficits, and death. Infected babies may grow teeth that are smaller and more widely spaced than normal. Their front teeth, or incisors, may have deep notches rather than having normal flat bottom edges for biting. No baby should ever face such hardship when prevention is possible.

If you are pregnant, it is vital for you to get prenatal care. References Syphilis. Mayo Clinic. January 10, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.