Until 2020, the last reported case of congenital syphilis in the Montreal area was in 2016, authorities told doctors in a bulletin.
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Montreal’s public health authorities advise local doctors to be vigilant and screen patients for syphilis after an increase in the number of reported cases in the region.
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“In the Montreal region, three cases of congenital syphilis (where the disease is transmitted from an infected mother to her unborn child) were reported in 2021 and one case in 2020,” authorities wrote in a newsletter to doctors issued on Friday. The authorities pointed out that until 2020, the last case of this type reported locally was in 2016.
The bulletin also noted that eight cases of congenital syphilis were reported in the Quebec City area between 2020 and 2021, and that the number of female cases of infectious syphilis in Montreal increased from 17 to 45 between 2017 and 2019, and from 68 at 131 in Montreal. the Quebec City area during the same period.
The bulletin recommends that physicians screen all pregnant women in their care for syphilis, as well as regularly test sexually active patients.
Reference-montrealgazette.com