STOP CS: Screening and Treatment in Outpatient Pregnancy Care to Prevent Congenital Syphilis
In collaboration with DSHS, TCHMB will develop, pilot test, and disseminate a toolkit addressing Congenital Syphilis (CS) for maternity care professionals at outpatient clinics as part of an initiative to integrate best practices and tailored strategies to improve timeliness of syphilis screening, diagnosis, treatment during pregnancy, and follow-up care.
It will include materials such as visual aids for identifying syphilis in pregnant women, treatment guidelines, a decision-making flowchart, and other educational materials that support maternity care professionals.
Timeline
Background
Syphilis is a preventable and curable sexually transmitted infection that, if untreated, can cause serious health consequences. CS is transmitted to babies during pregnancy or at delivery by an untreated or inadequately treated woman with syphilis. Texas accounted for nearly 25% of the nation’s CS cases in 2023. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 90% of CS cases can be prevented with timely testing and adequate treatment. Improving screening, diagnosis, and treatment of syphilis during pregnancy is critical to reducing CS in Texas and is closely aligned with TCHMB’s goals of reducing morbidity and mortality for mothers and babies and eliminating health outcome disparities.
For questions, please email tchmb-stopcs@uth.tmc.edu.
