Many pregnant women are tested positive for TPPA

We all know that syphilis can be transmitted vertically from the embryo to the fetus. Pregnant women in the early stages of pregnancy have a large amount of Treponema pallidum in their bodies, which is highly contagious. After delivery, 50% of the babies are likely to die or be stillborn, and the other 50% are born with illnesses. If a pregnant woman has early latent syphilis, it is likely to be ignored because there are no clinical symptoms. In fact, she is still infectious during pregnancy. So what should we do at this time?

Syphilis antibody tests include RPR, TRUST, TPPA, etc. Among them, RPR and TRUST are screening tests. If both are negative, syphilis cannot be diagnosed. A positive syphilis antibody test indicates that the person has been infected with syphilis in the past but may have recovered long ago. Syphilis antibody TPPA is generally not easy to turn negative after recovery, and some people will carry it for life.

Some pregnant women will have a positive syphilis TRUST test during pregnancy, but a negative TPPA test. Since TPPA is also positive, there are two possibilities: (1) having had syphilis before: some people do not have any symptoms after being infected with syphilis, and have latent syphilis, which is only discovered during routine physical examinations or blood donations; in addition, some people have used antibiotics inadvertently and improperly for fever, colds, or other reasons in the early stages of the illness, so the titer is 1:1 and has not turned negative. Such patients can have regular follow-up visits and do not need temporary treatment (2). This test result may also be an early stage of syphilis, which means that the patient is currently infectious and needs to receive syphilis treatment in addition to follow-up visits every three months.

Pregnant women must maintain a positive attitude during pregnancy, pay attention to diet, eat more light dishes, and also appropriately improve their immunity. There are many ways to test for syphilis antibodies. If symptoms have been diagnosed, everyone should receive treatment under the guidance of a doctor in a timely manner, and everyone should also do a good job of follow-up work.