About 3 weeks before being admitted to the hospital, baby girl V.T.T (2 months old, Mong ethnic group, Van Chan district, Yen Bai province) showed initial signs of red rash scattered on the buttocks. After 5-6 days, these rashes progressed into patches, patches, blisters and then spread to both legs, both arms and the neck. The family took the child to a private clinic for examination, diagnosed with dermatitis, applied an unknown medicine and bathed in green tea for 2 days, but the condition did not improve.
The condition continued to worsen, the blisters burst, and yellow fluid mixed with blood leaked out. After 5 days, the child developed a high fever of 38°C and was fussy, so the family took the child to a medical facility for examination.
The results of examination and testing here showed that the child had congenital syphilis with severe anemia. The child was then transferred to the Pediatrics Department, Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases for treatment.
When admitted to the hospital, the baby was malnourished, severely anemic, had a high fever, and had blister-like skin lesions on the limbs and trunk of congenital syphilis.
Examination and cerebrospinal fluid tests ruled out neurosyphilis complications. The baby was diagnosed with congenital syphilis, with symptoms of systemic lesions, severe anemia and malnutrition.
After 5 days of treatment, the patient's skin lesions gradually decreased, the child's fever stopped and he ate better. After 2 weeks of active treatment, the child was discharged in a stable condition, with positive weight gain.
Dr. Nguyen Manh Truong, Department of Pediatrics, Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases, shared: “The baby was born at full term but weighed only 1.6 kg, a clear sign of fetal malnutrition that could be due to the effects of congenital syphilis. However, congenital syphilis often causes stillbirth, death, or premature birth, so despite malnutrition, the baby was quite lucky. Both the father and mother of baby T were diagnosed with syphilis but did not know. Because they were not examined and treated during pregnancy, when we arrived at the hospital, we had to treat both the father and mother of the baby."
