Material and Methods

The remarkable decline in the incidence of syphilis in the first half of the 20th century tempted many observers to share the view of Illingworth (1959) that it was a disappearing disease. Since 1957, however, there has been an unmistakable upward trend in many parts of the world (Stallworthy and Bourne, 1966; Walter and Israel, 1965), and many cases of florid congenital syphilis have been reported (Woody, Sistrunk, and Platou, 1964). In 1960, the Registrar General's statistical review listed 935 deaths in England and Wales alone. This makes it desirable to review provisions for ante-natal care. The endemic state of syphilis in both Eire and Nigeria demonstrated in the present study empha-sizes the importance of continuing routine sero-logical tests for syphilis in pregnant women