Background: The prevalence of syphilis has decreased since the discovery of antibiotics. In Brazil, the Ministry of Health intends to eradicate the disease, thus recommending the screening with non-treponemic tests and treatment even when it is not possible to confirm the diagnosis. Antenatal care constitutes an important chance to do so, targeting the prevention of congenital forms. Objective: Study the evolution of mortality by congenital and non-congenital syphilis in the Brazilian regions from 1980 to 1995. Methods: The number of deaths was taken from Datasus. Mortality rates by syphilis in each Brazilian region were calculated. Results: There was a common decreasing trend of the rates from 1980 to 1995, even though the North and Northeast regions showed increasing rates in the first five years. The mortality by non-congenital forms declined, oscillating between very low values. Congenital syphilis had more elevated rates, between 1,33 and 8,87/100.000. The Northeastern region presented an increase of 120% from 1980 to 1990, with a little fall (11,5%) until 1995. Discussion: The efforts to diminish the prevalence of syphilis in Brazil seem to have succeeded to some extent, since the mortality rates tended to decrease. Even though, not only are the low rates indicative of its frequency, they also reflect its lethality, which is much lower nowadays. Conclusions: The persistence of elevated, and even increasing, levels of mortality by congenital syphilis is probably a consequence of the deficiencies of antenatal care, which are unevenly distributed throughout the national territory.
Congenital syphilis; Mortality; VDRL
