The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) continues to see dramatic statewide increases in congenital syphilis (CS), a severe yet preventable condition when syphilis is passed from mother to fetus. In California, many infants with CS are born to parents who received care in an emergency department (ED) during pregnancy, suggesting syphilis screening in ED's may offer an important opportunity to detect syphilis in pregnancy and prevent CS. This webinar features Dr. Rosalyn Plotzker, CDPH public health medical officer and co-author of the CDPH Expanded Syphilis Screening Recommendations for the Prevention of Congenital Syphilis. She will provide a clinical overview of CS prevention and discuss the recommendation to confirm syphilis status for pregnant patients in the ED. In addition, Dr. Kristopher Lyon, Public Health Officer and EMS medical director in Kern County, California and emergency department associate medical director, will present on syphilis screening in EDs from an on-the-ground perspective.
