Congenital syphilis is a form of syphilis present in utero and at birth, and occurs when a child is born to a mother with syphilis.
In the developed world there is less than 0.035% of population with syphilis, thanks to modern medicine and especially penicillin, it's curable. Syphilis is transmitted primarily by sexual contact or during pregnancy from a mother to her fetus, before penicillin people had to suffer, as seen on pictures.
That is why you need to vaccinate your kids, or they may end up in Iron Lung when they get the infection from poliomyelitis.
