Maternal Syphilis: An Independent Risk Factor for Mother to Infant Human Immunodeficiency Virus Transmission.

Syphilis is associated with increased human immunodeficiency virus acquisition and sexual transmission; we examined impact on human immunodeficiency virus mother-to-child transmission among mother-infant pairs enrolled in the India Six-Week Extended-Dose Nevirapine study. Maternal syphilis, diagnosed serologically using Venereal Disease Research Laboratory titer plus Treponema Pallidum Hemagglutination Assay, was associated with 2.5-fold greater risk.