Congenital syphilis: unique clinical presentation in three preterm newborns

J Perinat Med. 2004;32(1):90-4. doi: 10.1515/JPM.2004.017.

Abstract

Three preterm newborns affected by congenital syphilis, born to mothers not adequately treated during pregnancy, are described. The clinical picture is characterized by a severe cholestatic hepatopathy and, in the two surviving patients, by an unusually wide ischemic-hemorrhagic lesion of the cerebral parenchyma. This lesion is probably due to a syphilitic endarteritis, and has rarely been described before in preterm infants.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Brain Ischemia / diagnosis
  • Brain Ischemia / etiology
  • Cerebral Hemorrhage / diagnosis
  • Cerebral Hemorrhage / etiology
  • Cholestasis, Intrahepatic / diagnosis
  • Cholestasis, Intrahepatic / etiology
  • Fatal Outcome
  • Gestational Age
  • Humans
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Infant, Premature*
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Male
  • Syphilis, Congenital / complications
  • Syphilis, Congenital / diagnosis*
  • Syphilis, Congenital / therapy
  • Ultrasonography