[Laboratory diagnosis of Treponema pallidum infection in patients with early syphilis and neurosyphilis through a PCR-based test]. / Diagnóstico de la infección por Treponema pallidum en pacientes con sífilis temprana y neurosífilis mediante reacción de la polimerasa en cadena.

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease caused by Treponema pallidum. The diagnosis is based mainly in clinical presentation and non-specific assays. PCR-based diagnosis has been suggested as an attractive alternative method. The aim of this study was the validation of a PCR-based test for the diagnosis of early syphilis (ES) and neurosyphilis (NS). Clinical samples of mucocutaneous lesions and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) specimens from patients previously diagnosed for ES and NS respectively using an enlarged gold standard, were tested by PCR. The reaction was done using primers targeting the tpN47 gene. Twenty out of 21 mucocutaneous samples from patients diagnosed with ES were positive by PCR, with a clinical sensitivity of 95%. Four out of 8 CSF samples from patients previously diagnosed with NS were positive by PCR, with a clinical sensitivity of 50%. The clinical specificity for both ES and NS was 100%. The PCR sensitivity and specificity for mucocutaneous samples allowed us to implement this assay in our laboratory for routine diagnosis. Although the sensitivity of the PCR in CSF was low, it may be useful to support clinical diagnosis.

Hidrops fetal no inmunológico secundario a sífilis fetal: diagnóstico y tratamiento antenatal / Noninmune fetal hidrops secondary to fetal syphilis: diagnosis and antenatal treatment

En 2 embarazadas de tercer trimestre se efectuó el diagnóstico de hidrops fetal no inmunológico (HFNI) secundario a sífilis fetal y sífilis latente precoz materna, con tratamiento antenatal a dosis elevadas de penicilina G sódica a la madre y respuesta clínica con resolución de cuadro hidrópico. El primer caso con parto duarnte el tratamiento, nace con signos de sífilis congénita (condritis y hepatomegalia); en el segundo caso se prolonga el embarazo 5 semanas con recién nacidos sin estigmas sífilicos. Ambos neonatos recibieron tratamiento postnatal con penicilina G cristalina por 10 días. Se discutenlos elementos diagnósticosy tratamiento de esta patología aún existente en nuestro medio