AbstractBackground:TheNnewlyreportedcasesofcongenitalsyphilishavebeenincreasedingsubstantiallyoverthepastfewyears.Tocontroltheepidemic,amunicipalprogramaimedatpreventingmother-to-childtransmissionofsyphiliswasintroducedinJuly,2001,whichwasdesignedaimedtoscreenallpregnantwomenforsyphilisattheirfirstvisittoantenatalclinicsoratadmissiontohospitalsinShenzhen.Objectives:TheaimofthestudyistTodeterminetheprevalenceofsyphilisamongwomenattendingantenatalclinicsandothermedicalinstitutionsinShenzhenandidentifiesitspatternsofinfection.Methods:Upongivinginformedconsent,wWomenwhoattendedantenatalcarecentersinShenzhenfromJanuarytoDecember2003wereincludedinthisstudysubjecttoobtaininginformedconsent.AbloodsamplewasharvestedforsyphilisscreenedforsyphUisingbyusingrapidplasmareagenttest(RPR)andconfirmedbyTPHAforthosewhowereRPRpositive.Thewomenwithpregnantsyphilispositiveserologyweresystematicallyinterviewedtoobtain.Duringtheinterview,theirdemographicdetailsinformation,patternsofriskbehaviorsandotherdata.Datawerecollectedandwereanalyzedretrospectively.Results:AmongOf118,235pregnantwomensurveyed,555pregnantwomenwereconfirmedtohavesyphilis(prevalenceof4.69%),withaincidenceof4.69‰123womenwereexcludedfromtheanalysisbecauseofincompletemedicalrecords.Of432infectedsubjectswithcompletemedicalrecords,theaverageagewas26.8,witharangeof19to41.7.41%(32/432)ofthemsufferedfromprimarysyphilis,3.24%(14/432)wereofhadsecondarysyphilis,and89.35%(386/432)hadlatentsyphilis,withoutanyconspicuousclinicalsignsandsymptoms.Conclusions:Theprevalenceofsyphilisamongthepregnantwomeninourserieswashighandmostofthemwereasymptomatic.ScreeningforsyphilisamongpregnantwomeninShenzhenisofimportantceforthepreventionofmother-to-childtransmissionofsyphilis.
