Symptomatic congenital syphilis presenting at birth.

We report here a case of congenital syphilis presenting in a newborn infant at birth. A negative infant VDRL test, pseudoparesis and more notably, joint swellings (arthritis) were features seen uncommonly. Florid skeletal involvement, which is rarely seen in the early neonatal period, prompted us to draw attention to the varied presentation of this disease, rightly referred to as the "master masquerader".