New Queensland Health figures show that one baby died from congenital syphilis in 2026, three in 2025, and two in 2024. The infection is passed from mother to baby during pregnancy and is entirely preventable with early treatment.
Dr Candice Holland, a Brisbane-based infectious disease and public health physician, said many babies born with congenital syphilis die shortly after birth, and some are stillborn.
"It is a very tragic but a very preventable infection in pregnant women," she said.
Babies who survive can be left with lifelong health conditions including blindness, deafness, developmental delays, and problems with their bones and internal organs. Dr Holland stressed the importance of early diagnosis during pregnancy to reduce the risk of long-term complications.
Women are recommended to be tested for syphilis three times during pregnancy. A simple blood test can detect the disease. Dr Holland said that with appropriate treatment, infected pregnant women "have excellent outcomes for themselves and their babies."
However, cases can be easily missed because symptoms may be mild or absent. "They can have a small lesion which may go unnoticed because it usually doesn't cause any pain," Dr Holland said. "That can disappear on its own and then later, people can either have no symptoms for a long time, or they can get symptoms which can look like a lot of other infections like influenza."
Australia's Chief Medical Officer, Professor Michael Kidd, declared syphilis a communicable disease incident of national significance in August 2025 amid ongoing high case numbers and concerns about congenital syphilis.
"We share a big burden of that in Queensland," Dr Holland said.
So far in 2026, 1,126 cases of infectious syphilis have been diagnosed in Queensland, about 20 per cent more than the average for the past five years at this stage of the year.
Queensland Health data indicates that since 2011, First Nations infants account for 65 per cent of congenital syphilis cases, with 31 cases recorded.