All women should be screened serologically for syphilis early in pregnancy (106). Most states mandate screening at the first prenatal visit for all women (441). In populations in which receipt of prenatal care is not optimal, RPR test screening and treatment (if the RPR test is reactive) should be performed at the time pregnancy is confirmed (442).

Antepartum screening by nontreponemal antibody testing is typical, but treponemal antibody testing is being used in some settings. Pregnant women with reactive treponemal screening tests should have additional quantitative nontreponemal testing, because titers are essential for monitoring treatment response.

For communities and populations in which the prevalence of syphilis is high and for women at high risk for infection, serologic testing should also be performed twice during the third trimester: once at 28–32 weeks’ gestation and again at delivery. Any woman who has a fetal death after 20 weeks’ gestation should be tested for syphilis. No mother or neonate should leave the hospital without maternal serologic status having been documented at least once during pregnancy, and if the mother is considered high risk, documented at delivery.