Syphilis Congenita – Infected in the Womb

Abstract

Beckomberga hospital in Stockholm 1936. A six-year-old boy arrives from  in Stockholm. Very strange, what did a six-year-old boy do in a mental hospital for adults. This smiling cute light-haired boy on the photo in the journal was diagnosed congenital syphilis. A closer look in his papers showed that his mother also was hospitalised with a syphilis diagnosis. Why was the child not in the Lilla Hemmet institute, a natural place for children with hereditary syphilis in the Stockholm of those days, maybe he should be close to his mother while treated? But it was not so (1).

Keywords

Early 20th Century Medicine, Institutional Medical Care, Maternal–Fetal Transmission, Neonatal Infection, ongenital Syphilis, Pediatric Syphilis, Public Health History

  • License

    Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)

  • Language & Pages

    English, 1-12

  • Classification

    DDC Code: 174.280976149 LCC Code: R853.H8