Epidemiological analysis of syphilis cases in pregnant women during the Covid-19 pandemic in Estado do Pará in the period from 2018 to 2021

Abstract

Syphilis is a contagious and chronic bacterial infection, considered one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in the world. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) it is estimated that, in the world, occupying the third place on the scale of curable sexual transmission infections in the sexually active population in Brazil. The pathogen is transmitted by sexual contact with an infected person, by blood transfusion and through vertical transmission that is based on contamination from mother to fetus through the bloodstream. T. pallidum is manifested in three stages that are characterized according to the harmfulness and time of exposure to the organism. Its diagnosis can be through gynecological examination, in the case of women and immunological tests. The aim of this study was to analyze the epidemiological index of syphilis in pregnant women in northern Brazil, from 2018 to 2021. The study was a quantitative, descriptive, retrospective approach and data collection provided by information from the Notifi able Diseases Information System (Sinan). In the period from 2018 to 2021, 3,312 cases of gestational syphilis were reported by age group ranging from 10 to 59 years in the main municipalities of the northern region of the state of Pará. Through these data, we observed that by the year 2019 the cases of Syphilis, for the most part, they continued to grow, but in 2021 we see a considerable drop in the number of cases diagnosed and registered in the database provided by SINAN, however we must remember that the decrease in the number of cases registered this year may be due to the reduced search for diagnoses of Syphilis by the pandemic period by Sars-Cov2 (Coronavirus or Covid- 19), in the state of Pará, and there may be negligence on the part of the population in relation to other diseases. In short, there was a signifi cant growth of gestational syphilis, the spatial distribution indicated prevalence of these diseases in the peripheral regions of the municipality characterizing the infection in young pregnant women with low schooling, housewives and living in the urban area, revealing the fragility of prenatal care provided to pregnant women, through late diagnosis, inadequate treatment, and non-treatment of the partner, these are key points to avoid vertical transmission. Although it has the well-known etiological agent, established mode of transmission, eff ective and low-cost treatment, with high probabilities of cure, it persists as a serious public health problem.