Congenital syphilis: forms, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment
Congenital syphilis - when the infection is transmitted through the placenta to the infant from a sick mother.This is a particularly dangerous form of the disease.It can be diagnosed at different ages.Depending on this, several types of ailment are distinguished.
Table of contents: Types of congenital syphilis Causes of congenital syphilis Symptoms of congenital syphilisTypes of congenital syphilis
Classification is based on the age at which the disease manifests itself.The range varies from breastfeed to adolescence.
Forms of disease diagnosed by physicians:
- Early congenital syphilis
- Syphilis of the fetus. Diagnosed with intrauterine infection.Infection in the fifth to sixth months may lead to premature birth.Usually an infant is born dead, macerated or with pathologies of the liver, spleen and lungs.
- Infantile syphilis. When infected in the last months of pregnancy, signs of the disease appear immediately after the birth of the child.In the third month of the baby's life, Wasserman's reaction is revealed.
- Early childhood syphilis. This form of the disease manifests itself at the age of 1 to 4 years.
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Late congenital syphilis.As a rule, this form of the disease manifests itself in adolescence, and before that it is asymptomatic.This is a dangerous relapse of an illness that was suffered in early childhood, which was not detected on time or not adequately treated.
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Concealed congenital syphilis. May appear in the child at any age.It is complicated by the fact that it is asymptomatic.In this case, latent congenital syphilis can be detected only by serological studies of , which are conducted on the basis of the study of cerebrospinal fluid.
Symptomatic latent shape allows a child to live to a certain age.However, he will not be different from his peers in his development.But it is worth understanding that sooner or later the infection will still manifest itself.
Causes of congenital syphilis
The bacterium infects the fetus by entering the placenta through the umbilical vein or lymphatic vascular spaces from a mother suffering from syphilis.
In children at risk:
- infecting a woman before conception;
- diagnosing the disease at different stages of pregnancy;
- the mother has congenital or secondary syphilis.
Bacteria are transmitted from mother to child in the first years of infection, with the active stage of the disease. With age, this risk is gradually reduced.
If a woman suffers from a chronic condition but is treated, she can have a healthy baby.Therefore it is very important to regularly undergo special studies and during the entire period of development in the womb of the mother to observe the fetus's condition, and the child's birth field to monitor his health in time to reveal even the latent form of the disease.To do this, you need to know the symptoms of the disease.
Symptoms of congenital syphilis
There are still chances of having a healthy child in an infected woman.The main thing is to identify the symptoms of the disease in time at the stage of development in the womb of the mother. This will allow to take necessary measures, to reveal the degree of infection activity and make forecasts for the future.The signs of the disease depend on its shape.
Symptoms of congenital syphilis of fetus
- lesion of the brain and CNS;
- small body weight;
- large fetal sizes;
- ulcers on the stomach;
- maceration;
- the kidneys are underdeveloped, crusted;
- enlarged and atrophied liver;
- the spleen is compacted and enlarged.Symptoms of congenital syphilis
- is dry and wrinkled;
- pigmentation of the fundus, in the future - loss of vision, keratitis;
- head of large size with strongly developed tubercles on the forehead, seborrheic crusts, pronounced venous network;
- joint damage is expressed by movement disorder or complete immobility of the limbs;
- sunken nose;
- pigmentation on the face;
- the baby constantly cries, shrieks and does not sleep well;
- skin pale, dirty yellow, flabby;
- delayed development;
- limbs thin and cyanotic;
- weight loss;
- dystrophy with complete absence of subcutaneous fat;
- persistent cold.At the same time, breathing and sucking are difficult;
- with time, bedsores appear;
- hypertrophy of the mucosa of the larynx, mouth and nose;
- syphilitic pemphigus on the knees, palms, elbows, face and soles.Vesicles are large, contain pus;
- syphilitic alopecia - loss of eyebrows, eyelashes and hair;
- epidemic pemphigus - large, intermixing blisters, eroded, bleeding.They are accompanied by green stools, diarrhea and high fever;
- is a rosehole rash - individual brown spots that peel off.Have a tendency to merge;
- diffuse skin condensation - flaky erosion on the head, palms, soles, face, accompanied by loss of eyebrows and hair, swelling of the lips, ulcers on the entire surface of the body, cracks in the corners of the mouth and crusts on the chin;
- papular syphilis - pigmented spots and copper-red papules;
- redness of heels;Erysipelas
- erysipelas.
Symptoms of congenital syphilis
- roseous eruptions;
- lesions of the eye: keratitis, chorioritinitis, optic nerve atrophy;
- skin integument of the groin, genitals, anus and interdigital folds on the legs are affected by large, wet papules;
- snacks in the corners of the mouth;
- compaction and enlargement of the testes;
- papules on the mucous larynx merge, causing a hoarse voice, stenosis and aphonia;
- kidney dystrophy;
- syphilitic rhinitis;
- the liver and spleen are enlarged and compacted;
- baldness;
- with pathological lesion of the bone system - periostitis, osteosclerosis, osteoperiostitis;
- lymph nodes are enlarged;
- due to damage to the nervous system often diagnose epileptiform seizures, meningitis, mental retardation, hemiplegia, hydrocephalus.
Symptoms of late congenital syphilis
- Reliable symptoms
- Specific labyrinth - deafness combined with speech difficulty;
- dental dystrophy;
- keratitis is a pathological inflammation of the cornea of the eye, accompanied by the clouding of individual areas of the mucosa, blepharospasm, lacrimation, decreased visual acuity and optic nerve atrophy until complete loss of vision.
- Probable signs
- specific retinitis;
- specific drives.Knee joints increase, swell and hurt;
- dystrophy;
- shins are saber-shaped, the gait changes greatly;
- with severe CNS damage may develop oligophrenia, epilepsy and speech disorder;
- saddle nose;
- radial scars near the chin and mouth;
- buttock-like skull.
External symptoms rarely go unnoticed unless it is a latent form of disease.The lesions of internal systems and organs are so powerful that the symptoms are noticeable even with the naked eye already at an early age.
ImportantIf the time does not begin treatment of a latent form, an adult child will be a carrier of pale treponema and infect other people.Diagnosis of the disease
If a mother's disease is diagnosed during pregnancy, the diagnosis of congenital syphilis in a child is carried out in the womb.
Laboratory tests used for diagnosis:
- X-ray.The study is carried out for 5-6 months of pregnancy.The disease is recognized by specific osteochondritis or osteoperiosty;
- serological reactions of Zaksa-Vitebsk, Kana, Colmer, Wasserman.In the blood of a child inject antigen and study the reaction of the body is not him;
- reaction of immobilization of viruses causing disease - pale treponem;
- X-ray of the osteoarticular apparatus;
- reactions of immunofluorescence;
- examination of cerebrospinal fluid;
- examination of a child from a pediatrician, an otolaryngologist, a neurologist and an ophthalmologist.
All results of the conducted studies are recorded in the diagnostic report, according to which the congenital syphilis is treated.
Due care and a full course of treatment, conducted in a timely manner, gives a very favorable prognosis for a sick child.
Methods of treatment of congenital syphilis
Treatment gives positive results if the disease is detected in a timely manner.Therapy includes medication and proper care.
Medication therapy includes :
- Vitamin therapy;
- biogenic stimulants;
- injection of penicillin and its derivatives;
- immunomodulators;
- phenoxypenicillin;
- arsenic derivatives;
- bismuth( for patients older than six months);
- introduction of antibacterial agents with endoluminal injection in combination with pyrotherapy;
- with allergies to penicillin - cephalosporins, tetracycline, erythromycin.
Care includes:
- regular hygiene procedures;
- continuous monitoring and consultation with relevant specialists;
- Breastfeeding;
- regular spa-specific treatment;
- high-grade food;
- observance of the regime of the day.
When diagnosing congenital syphilis of any form, the patient is placed in the hospital of a venereal dispensary.
The level of modern medicine and early diagnosis can detect and treat congenital syphilis in a baby in advance.This will help to avoid dangerous consequences for the health and life of the child.
Congenital syphilis is not a verdict, this disease does not always lead to disability and death.
Radevich Igor Tadeushevich, the doctor of the sexopathologist-andrologist of 1 category