Assessment of the s Situation of Congenital Syphilis in Thailand in 2009
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14456/dcj.2013.26Keywords:
Congenital syphilis, Thailand, Syphilis sero-positive pregnant womanAbstract
A program called “Elimination of Congenital Syphilis” was formulated and advocated by the World Health Organization (WHO), but data on the prevalence of congenital syphilis (CS) had not been collected. The objectives of this study were to assess the magnitude of the problem of CS in Thailand, to identify current treatment for mothers and children impacted by CS. The study proposal was approved by the Thai Ministry of Public Health Ethical Committee. Data of pregnancy in fiscal year 2009 from nine provinces were collected. Three tools used for data collection included “Review Record Form,” “Management for Syphilis Positive Pregnancy,” and “Syphilis Infections Record Form”. We held meetings and invited health staff members from each hospital to attend and submitted the completed forms. One-hundred and fifty hospitals were included. The completed record review forms indicated that over 99% of pregnant women who received ANC were screened for syphilis. Of this group of 119,200 women, 188 (0.16%) tested positive for syphilis, and 168 of those had a positive confirmatory test result. There were 103 sero-positive pregnant women (SPPW), prevalence of CS from these women was 14 (0.10/1000 live births). Most physicians practice according to the textbook, but most of them informed us that no guideline for management of SPPW was used in their hospitals. We found a low prevalence of syphilis among pregnant women and a low level of CS in Thailand during the study period. Little attention was being paid to this problem by health personnel. Reminding health personnel about caring for SPPW could help to reduce CS in Thailand even further.
References
2. World Health Organization, Department of Reproductive Health and Research. The global elimination of congenital syphilis: rationale and strategy for action; [accessed March 1,2011]. Available from URL: http://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/publications/rtis/9789241595858/en/ index.html
3. Data from sentinel surveillance of syphilitic pregnant women, year 2008, Bureau of AIDS TB and STIs ; [accessed March 1,2011]. Available from URL: http://www.aidsstithai.org/link/sentinelsurveillance
4. Sexually Transmitted Infections; [accessed May 20, 2011]. Available from URL: http://dpc9.ddc.moph.go.th/napha9/sti.html
5. Watson-Jones D. Syphilis in pregnancy in Tanzania. J Infect Dis. 2002 Oct 1; 186(7): 948-57.
6. Wendel GD, Shffield JS, Hollier LM, Hill JB, Hill JB, Ramsey PS, Sanchez PJ. Treatment of syphilis in pregnancy and prevention of congenital syphilis. Clinical Infectious Disease 2002; 35 Suppl 2: S200-9.
7. Centers for disease Control: Congenital syphilis case definition 1996; [accessed March 12, 2011]. Available from URL: http://www.cdc.gov/osels/ph_surveillance/ nndss/casedef/syphilisccurrent.htm
8. World Health Organization: The global elimination of congenital syphilis: rationale and strategy for action; [accessed May 2, 2011]. Available from URL: http://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/publications/rtis/9789241595858/en/index.html
9. Data of congenital syphilis, fiscal year 2009, Thailand, National Health Security Office (unpublished data).
10. Data of congenital syphilis, fiscal year 2009, Thailand, sentinel surveillance of Bureau of Epidemiology (unpublished data).
11. Data of congenital syphilis, fiscal year 2009, Thailand, Bureau of AIDS TB and STIs (unpublished data).
12. National Statistical Office: Antenatal care coverage; [accessed May 2, 2011]. Available from URL: http://service.nso.go.th/nso/nso_center/project/search_center/ 23project-th.htm
13. Annual Epidemiological Surveillance report 2010; [accessed May 20, 2011]. Available from URL: http://203.157.15.4/Annual/aesr2553/Open.html
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Articles published in the Disease Control Journal are considered as academic work, research or analysis of the personal opinion of the authors, not the opinion of the Thailand Department of Disease Control or editorial team. The authors must be responsible for their articles.
.png){kind=logo}
