{"id":680070,"date":"2026-05-19T17:32:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T17:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/680070\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T17:32:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T17:32:11","slug":"1-in-5-pregnant-people-in-ontario-not-screened-properly-for-syphilis-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/680070\/","title":{"rendered":"1 in 5 pregnant people in Ontario not screened properly for syphilis: study"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n\t\t\t\tBy Hannah Alberga<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe Canadian Press\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\tPosted May 19, 2026 8:18 am<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tUpdated May 19, 2026 11:34 am\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t1 min read\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tDescrease article font size<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tIncrease article font size<\/p>\n<p>A new study says one in five pregnant people in Ontario were not properly screened for syphilis, a preventable disease that can\u00a0be fatal when passed from mother to baby.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/70c8fc80.png\" alt=\"\" style=\"position:absolute;width:1px;height:1px\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The research, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, examined health administrative data for more than 550,000 pregnancies in the province between 2018 and 2023.<\/p>\n<p>Sahar Saeed, who co-authored the study, says data shows that more than 44,000 pregnant people were not screened for syphilis with a blood test when they should have been in the first trimester or at the initial prenatal visit.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"170\" height=\"225\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/healthiq.jpg\" alt=\"Receive the latest medical news and health information delivered to you every Sunday.\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tGet weekly health news<\/p>\n<p>Receive the latest medical news and health information delivered to you every Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>Of those screened, more than 13,000 did so late, in the third trimester or at delivery.<\/p>\n<p>Research shows that the sooner syphilis is diagnosed and treated in pregnancy, the less chance there is of adverse outcomes.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tMore on Health<br \/>\n\t\t\tMore videos\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>The consequences of missed or late screenings can include miscarriage, stillbirth, preterm birth, developmental delay, blindness and deafness.<\/p>\n<p>Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n<p>She says the study found gaps in access to prenatal care were particularly pronounced in marginalized communities facing the greatest barriers.<\/p>\n<p>The sexually transmitted infection is treated with one to three benzathine penicillin shots, depending on the stage of the illness.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t&amp;copy 2026 The Canadian Press\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Hannah Alberga The Canadian Press Posted May 19, 2026 8:18 am Updated May 19, 2026 11:34 am&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":680071,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[49,48,84,217714,2728],"class_list":["post-680070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-ontario-health","tag-syphilis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=680070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680070\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/680071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=680070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=680070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=680070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}