Underreporting of gestational, congenital and acquired syphilis among indigenous peoples in Mato Grosso do Sul State, Brazil, 2011-2014.

OBJECTIVE: to describe the distribution, incidence, and underreporting of syphilis among indigenous peoples from Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil.

METHODS: descriptive study performed with secondary data of the Information System for Notifiable Diseases (Sinan) and of the Special Indigenous Sanitary District of Mato Grosso do Sul (DSEI-MS), from 2011 to 2014; the data from both sources were compared to identify underreporting.

RESULTS: the highest incidence rates of syphilis in pregnant women were observed in 2014 (41.1/1,000 live births) and of congenital syphilis, in 2013 (10.7/1,000 live births); the highest numbers of underreporting of cases were for syphilis in pregnant women on Sinan (45/79), of congenital syphilis at DSEI-MS (8/17) in 2014, and of acquired syphilis on Sinan in 2011 and 2013 (5/9 and 10/18, respectively).

CONCLUSION: syphilis has a high incidence; underreporting hides the extent of the disease in indigenous peoples from Mato Grosso do Sul.