Priorities in the prevention of congenital syphilis in the EU/EEA - 2024 progress report
Surveillance and monitoring
Monitoring of the responses to sexually transmitted infection epidemics in the European Union and European Economic Area – 2024 progress report
Key facts
- Syphilis is a sexually transmitted bacterial infection, and congenital syphilis occurs when a foetus contracts syphilis during pregnancy. This can lead to severe negative consequences for the infant when they are born. Testing and treating pregnant women for syphilis prevents this from happening.
- Cases of congenital syphilis have increased by 243% in the past decade, from 37 cases in 2015 to 127 cases in 2024, among EU/EEA countries that consistently reported this data. Eleven countries reported rates above the WHO European Region 2030 elimination target of ≤1 case per 100 000 live births.
- Most EU/EEA countries have a policy of testing women for syphilis in early pregnancy, but few countries have data on how many are actually tested.
- Even if women test negative in early pregnancy, they can still contract the disease later in their pregnancy, and only about half of countries in the EU/EEA have a policy to re-test pregnant women.
- ECDC recommends that EU/EEA countries update their syphilis testing policy in pregnancy to ensure universal and voluntary syphilis screening in the first trimester, repeated testing of pregnant women with identified risk factors in the third trimester, and testing at delivery if it has not been done earlier. ECDC also recommends that countries have robust monitoring systems in place.
Publication file
Priorities in the prevention of congenital syphilis in the EU/EEA - Monitoring of the responses to sexually transmitted infection epidemics in the European Union and European Economic Area – 2024 progress report
English (666.7 KB - PDF)
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