Nearly half of pregnant women in Southern China's poor areas do not get tested for syphilis, study shows

"Nearly half of pregnant women do not get tested for syphilis in poor areas of southern China where the sexually transmitted disease has seen a resurgence, researchers said Wednesday" in a study published in the WHO's November 2011 Bulletin, the Associated Press/Washington Post reports. Pregnant women with syphilis can miscarry, have stillbirths or their infants can have congenital defects, the news service notes. According to the AP, the study "found that more than 40 percent of about 125,000 mothers-to-be in Guangdong province were not tested for syphilis in 2008, mostly due to a lack of health facilities in rural areas." The study noted that "several provincial and national programs to improve testing have been put in place" since the study was conducted, the AP writes (Wong, 11/1).