Modernizing Perinatal Syphilis Testing

Modernizing Perinatal Syphilis Testing

The purpose of this study is to determine the testing performance of real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction and transcription mediated amplification by comparing test performance of these novel molecular tests to current 2021 CDC CS guidelines for maternal/neonatal dyads at risk for syphilis infection and to determine whether CS is associated with adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Maternal diagnosis of syphilis by 2021 CDC STI guidelines, irrespective of treatment status; AND viable pregnancy with gestational age ≥ 12 weeks OR postpartum ≤ 96 hours from delivery OR Neonates of pregnancies affected by syphilis ≤ 72 hours of birth
• Individuals (men and non-pregnant) with syphilis in Harris Health clinic with syphilis

Exclusion Criteria:

• Pregnant individuals and neonates who do not meet the criteria of syphilis (false positive)
• Planning to move outside of study prior to ND testing