Abstract
Background: Syphilis is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in pregnancy and it is one of the greatest public health challenges. It is responsible for up to 30% of perinatal mortality. Ethiopia is one of the countries in which sexually transmitted infection (STIs) are highly prevalent. However, the data needed to present a realistic picture of the prevalence of syphilis are limited.
 Objective: To determine the prevalence of syphilis among pregnant mothers attending Antenatal Clinic of Bulchana health center, Shashemene, West Arsi Zone, Ethiopia, 2017.
 Materials and Methods: Health institution based retrospective cross sectional study was conducted from April 01 to June 01, 2017 among women attended Antenatal Clinic of Bulchana health center during the period of 2014 to 2016. Non probability sampling technique was used to recruit study participants. A total of 4346 pregnant women were included in this study. Data was captured by reviewing and observation of a recorded data at the ANC registration book using pre-tested structured check list. Data were entered and cleaned using EpiData version 3.0. and analyzed by SPSS version 21. Binary logistic regression was used and significant variables were further adjusted using multivariate analysis. A p-value <0.05 was considered as level of significance.
 Result: In this study the prevalence of syphilis among pregnant women found to be 1.1% 95%CI [0.8-1.3]. Relatively high prevalence of syphilis 15(1.5%) was observed among age group of 15-19 years. The prevalence of syphilis was high among pregnant women living in rural area 35(1.1%). Being rural dwellers and those with multiple pregnancy, 2-4 and more than 5 pregnancies showed significant association with prevalence of syphilis infection. [(OR=0.68, 95%CI (5.33, 17.32), P=0.04)], [(OR=10, 95% CI(1.36, 74.42), p= 0.02] and [(OR=2.18, 95%CI(1.20, 3.95), p= 0.01], respectively.
 Conclusion: The observed seroprevalence of syphilis among women attending ANC still mandates effective health education campaigns to elucidate the risk factors and prevention of syphilis not only to pregnant women but also the public at large. Strengthening service delivery at the provider and facility level to improve prompt access to effective syphilis diagnostic and treatment services is mandatory.
 Keywords: syphilis, pregnant women, ANC, Shashemene Ethiopia.
Highlights
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection (STI) caused by the spirochete Treponema palladium [1]
Majority 1271(29.2 %) of women attending ANC were between 20-24 years of age, followed by 1159(26.7%) of pregnant women found in age group of 25-29 years
We found a high prevalence of syphilis among pregnant women coming from urban area (1.1%) as compared to those coming from rural areas (1%) and this was statistically significant (P=0.04, OR=0.68, 95%Confidence Interval (CI)[5.33, 17.32])
Summary
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection (STI) caused by the spirochete Treponema palladium [1]. Considered to be sexually transmitted disease, this infection can be transmitted in utero and rarely by blood transfusion or non-sexual contact [2]. It is of particular concern during pregnancy because of the risk of trans-placental infection of the fetus due to hematogeneous spread from an infected mother. Objective: To determine the prevalence of syphilis among pregnant mothers attending Antenatal Clinic of Bulchana health center, Shashemene, West Arsi Zone, Ethiopia, 2017. Result: In this study the prevalence of syphilis among pregnant women found to be 1.1% 95%CI [0.81.3]. The prevalence of syphilis was high among pregnant women living in rural area 35(1.1%). Being rural dwellers and those with multiple pregnancy, 2-4 and more than 5 pregnancies showed significant
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