The Incidence of Prenatal Syphilis at the Boston City Hospital

IN A previous communication∥ one of us reported on a retrospective analysis of congenital syphilis in patients under one year of age in Massachusetts, from 1946 to 1950 inclusive, in order to determine why congenital syphilis still continued to occur in spite of the following factors: a low prevalence rate of syphilis in this state: the premarital-examination law designed to screen for syphilis prospective couples before marriage and to provide treatment before the wedding of those found to have infectious syphilis; the prenatal-examination law requiring a blood test for syphilis at the first prenatal visit; a specific, effective and nontoxic . . .