Last Updated on July 29, 2021 by Stacy Sampson, DO
Syphilis STI/STD Brief
These briefs are intended to give readers (specifically those readers who weren’t aware many of these STIs/STDs existed) an overview of each STI/STD, their commonality, treatment options, and diagnostic tests available.
This information is by no means all-encompassing and The STI Project encourages using these briefs as primers and then further delving into the resources section when subsequent questions arise.
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Syphilis Symptoms, Test & Treatment
Common? Somewhat common – Around 30,000-40,000 people contract it in the U.S. annually
Symptoms Often, syphilis has no symptoms or has such mild symptoms that a person doesn’t notice them. Primary Stage — A painless sore or open, wet ulcer, which is called a chancre, appears. Chancres can appear on the genitals, in the vagina, on the cervix, lips, mouth, breasts, or anus. Swollen glands may also occur during the primary phase. Secondary Stage —body rashes that last 2–6 weeks — often on the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet. There are many other symptoms, including mild fever, fatigue, sore throat, hair loss, weight loss, swollen glands, headache, and muscle pains. Late Stage — one out of three people who have syphilis that is not treated suffer serious damage to the nervous system, heart, brain, or other organs, and death may result.
Cure? Antibiotic
Bacterial/Viral/ Fungal/Parasitic Bacterial
Test Test fluid from open sores or blood test
Life-Long? No
Life-Threatening? Maybe – one out of three people who have syphilis that is not treated suffer serious damage to the nervous system, heart, brain, or other organs, and death may result
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- Syphilis In-Depth
- Pictures of Syphilis
- Looking for more information about syphilis?
- Looking for STI testing centers, syphilis treatment, STI hotlines, or STI blogs and forums?
- Would you like to read stories about people living with an STI/STD?
References
- Symptoms
- Chow, E. P. F., et al. “Duration of syphilis symptoms at presentations in men who have sex with men in Australia: are current public health campaigns effective?.” Epidemiology & Infection 144.1 (2016): 113-122.
- Patel, Nupur U., et al. “Early congenital syphilis: recognising symptoms of an increasingly prevalent disease.” Journal of cutaneous medicine and surgery 22.1 (2018): 97-99.
- Yao, Xiao, et al. “Novel predictors of neurosyphilis among HIV-negative syphilis patients with neurological symptoms: an observational study.” BMC Infectious Diseases 17 (2017).
- Nyatsanza, Farai, and Craig Tipple. “Syphilis: presentations in general medicine.” Clinical Medicine 16.2 (2016): 184-188.
- Gevorgyan, Ofelya, et al. “A nodular-ulcerative form of secondary syphilis in AIDS.” Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings. Vol. 30. No. 1. Taylor & Francis, 2017.
- Testing
- Chow, Eric PF, et al. “Increased syphilis testing of men who have sex with men: greater detection of asymptomatic early syphilis and relative reduction in secondary syphilis.” Clinical Infectious Diseases 65.3 (2017): 389-395.
- Swartzendruber, Andrea, et al. “Introduction of rapid syphilis testing in antenatal care: A systematic review of the impact on HIV and syphilis testing uptake and coverage.” International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics 130 (2015): S15-S21.
- Adeyinka, Daniel A., et al. “Elimination of mother-to-child transmission of syphilis: Is it a reality in Nigeria by 2020?.” Scandinavian journal of public health 46.8 (2018): 794-797.
- Tipple, Craig, and Graham P. Taylor. “Syphilis testing, typing, and treatment follow-up: a new era for an old disease.” Current opinion in infectious diseases 28.1 (2015): 53-60.
- Hall, Brian J., et al. “Barriers and Facilitators of Rapid HIV and Syphilis Testing Uptake Among Filipino Transnational Migrants in China.” AIDS and behavior (2019): 1-10.
- Treatment
- Stamm, L. V. “Syphilis: antibiotic treatment and resistance.” Epidemiology & Infection 143.8 (2015): 1567-1574.
- Seña, Arlene C., et al. “Rate of decline in nontreponemal antibody titers and seroreversion after treatment of early syphilis.” Sexually transmitted diseases 44.1 (2017): 6.
- Taylor, Melanie M., et al. “The amount of penicillin needed to prevent mother-to-child transmission of syphilis.” Bulletin of the World Health Organization 94.8 (2016): 559.
- Antonio, Marilia B., et al. “Natural experiment of syphilis treatment with doxycycline or benzathine penicillin in HIV-infected patients.” Aids 33.1 (2019): 77-81.
- Lawrence, David, et al. “Syphilis treatment in the presence of HIV: the debate goes on.” Current opinion in infectious diseases 28.1 (2015): 44-52.
- Prevention
- Kidd, Sarah, et al. “Use of national syphilis surveillance data to develop a congenital syphilis prevention cascade and estimate the number of potential congenital syphilis cases averted.” Sexually transmitted diseases 45 (2018): S23-S28.
- Chesson, Harrell W., and Kwame Owusu-Edusei Jr. “Relative Impact of Different Strategies for Allocating Federal Funds for Syphilis Prevention.” Sexually transmitted diseases 45 (2018): S72-S77.
- Kroeger, Karen A., et al. “Pathways to congenital syphilis prevention: A rapid qualitative assessment of barriers, and the public health response, in Caddo Parish, Louisiana.” Sexually transmitted diseases 45.7 (2018): 442-446.
- Plotzker, Rosalyn E., Ryan D. Murphy, and Juliet E. Stoltey. “Congenital Syphilis Prevention: Strategies, Evidence, and Future Directions.” Sexually transmitted diseases 45 (2018): S29-S37.
- Wu, Xiaobing, et al. “Poor awareness of syphilis prevention and treatment knowledge among six different populations in south China.” BMC public health 16.1 (2016): 287.
- Transmission
- Stahlman, Shauna, et al. “Acceptable interventions to reduce syphilis transmission among high-risk men who have sex with men in Los Angeles.” American journal of public health 105.3 (2015): e88-e94.
- Stoltey, Juliet E., and Stephanie E. Cohen. “Syphilis transmission: a review of the current evidence.” Sexual health 12.2 (2015): 103-109.
- Gumel, Abba, et al. “Mathematics of a sex‐structured model for syphilis transmission dynamics.” Mathematical Methods in the Applied Sciences 41.18 (2018): 8488-8513.
- Taylor, Melanie M., et al. “The amount of penicillin needed to prevent mother-to-child transmission of syphilis.” Bulletin of the World Health Organization 94.8 (2016): 559.
- Braccio, Serena, Mike Sharland, and Shamez N. Ladhani. “Prevention and treatment of mother-to-child transmission of syphilis.” Current opinion in infectious diseases 29.3 (2016): 268-274.
