Bibliographic Info
GuidelineWHO recommendations on maternal health: guidelines approved by the WHO Guidelines Review Committee, second edition. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2025
Year of Publication2023
Issuing InstitutionWorld Health Organization
Recommendation
Status
Maintained
Recommended in favor
Conditional
Certainty of evidence
Low
In settings with a low prevalence of syphilis (below 5%), the WHO STI guideline suggests a single on-site rapid syphilis test (RST) be used to screen pregnant women (Strategy A) rather than a single on-site rapid plasma reagin (RPR) test (Strategy B).+++
Notes and Remarks
- 1.Refer to section 5.3 in the full guideline for the explanations and flowcharts for the various screening and treatment strategies mentioned (Strategies A-D)
- 2.This recommendations do not apply to countries that can provide appropriate/high-quality laboratory-based screening and treatment strategies. However, in some settings there may be challenges providing such strategies and/or a sequence of tests. When resources do not permit the use of a sequence of tests, a single on-site rapid syphilis test (RST) (Strategy A) is suggested to ensure greater screening coverage despite the number of pregnant women who will be over-treated due to the high rate of false-positive results. Treatment is based on duration of syphilis, according to the WHO guidelines for the treatment of Treponema pallidum (syphilis)
Also Featured In
This recommendation also appears in the following guidelines:
Originally Developed
Guideline
WHO guideline on syphilis screening and treatment for pregnant women
Year2017
InstitutionWHO