Record number of babies born with syphilis in Hungary, even though screening is no more expensive than a movie ticket

Last year, 42 babies were born with syphilis in Hungary, nine of whom did not survive the infection. The number may not seem high at first glance, but we lead the statistics across the EU – together with Bulgaria and Portugal – and since it is a 100% preventable disease, the number of cases should be close to zero. Nevertheless, it seems that in 2025 we will be worse off when it comes to STIs than we were in the 1950s.