Can a person get pregnant with a sexually transmitted disease? There have been many studies of STI’s and fertility, and untreated syphilis is an STI that has become more common in recent years. While it is treatable with penicillin when it is detected at an early stage, it can have many consequences when it goes undetected for longer periods of time. As an example, if a woman gets pregnant while suffering from an untreated syphilis infection, they have a 50% chance of their pregnancy ending in stillbirth or miscarriage. This is a drastically high percentage and one of many reasons people should get tested regularly. 

In addition, syphilis is very easy to transmit at any stage during the pregnancy to the future human. Congenital syphilis is dangerous to future people, increasing the significance of fatality by large margins. A person should get tested if they are trying to get pregnant, and in the first trimester of their pregnancies. The symptoms of syphilis are not always obvious. Treatment with penicillin can help protect all involved with the pregnancy and provide protection afterward as well. When treated early, transmission rates for syphilis dropped to one or 2%, which is much lower than the 50% transmission rate among untreated mothers.

In addition, untreated syphilis can cause infertility in both women and men. Later stages of the disease can cause damage to both nerves and organs, which affect all systems of the body. This includes the reproductive system. Penicillin is the only approved treatment for syphilis, so people who are allergic to it may need to go through a desensitization process in order to take the medication. Take care to have safer sex practices, and make sure to get tested for STIs regularly. If you have any questions about syphilis, the risks, or safer sex, talk to your doctor. Some people try to avoid talking to their doctor about these types of things for reasons like embarrassment, nervousness, or anxiety. Doctors are trained to answer these types of questions, which are more common than people think.