Wk. Lee et al., SYPHILITIC ENDOMETRITIS CAUSING FIRST TRIMESTER ABORTION - A POTENTIAL INFECTIOUS CAUSE OF FETAL MORBIDITY IN EARLY GESTATION, Southern medical journal, 87(12), 1994, pp. 1259-1261
This report describes a 30-year-old woman with a history of prostituti
on and ''crack'' cocaine use during pregnancy. After an incomplete abo
rtion at 11 weeks' gestation, a suction dilatation and curettage of ut
erine contents was done. Histopathologic examination revealed lymphopl
asmacytic deciduitis and decidual necrosis, as well as rare first trim
ester chorionic villi. Silver staining using the Steiner technique sho
wed numerous spirochetes, morphologically consistent with Treponema pa
llidum, in the decidualized endometrial tissues. This case of syphilit
ic endometritis, which: appears to be the first reported, suggests tha
t treponemal infection can cause fetal morbidity during early gestatio
n.