Last Updated on July 29, 2021 by Debra Rose Wilson, PhD, MSN, RN, IBCLC, AHN-BC, CHT
How do you get Syphilis/How can you get it? Syphilis Causes:
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection (STI) caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum. It has often been called “the great imitator” because so many of the signs and symptoms are indistinguishable from those of other diseases.
Syphilis is spread through skin-to-skin contact when someone touches a sore on a person who has it. The sores are usually on the mouth, penis, vagina, or anus. It is usually transmitted during oral, vaginal, or anal sexual contact.
Although transmission occurs from persons with sores who are in the primary or secondary stage, many of these sores are unrecognized. Thus, transmission may occur from persons who are unaware of their infection.
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How to tell if you have it? Syphilis Symptoms:
Often, this bacterial infection has no symptoms or has such mild symptoms that a person doesn’t notice them. There are considered to be four stages of syphilis:
Primary Syphilis
- Chancre: The primary stage of syphilis is usually marked by the appearance of a single sore, known as a chancre, within 10 to 90 days after contact with the bacteria at the site of infection. It is usually appears as a single, painless sore, that is raised or elevated.
- Chancres may be found: outside the genitals, including the penis, scrotum and vagina; inside the vagina or rectum; at or around the anus; or, on the lips or in the mouth, though this is not as common. The sore can last from one to five weeks and will go away by itself.
- The chancre will go away with or without treatment. Without treatment, the person will still have syphilis and can transmit it to others.
Latent Stage
- Latent syphilis is defined as the time where there are no signs or symptoms of the disease
- Develops from 2 to 30+ years after infection.
- Because there are no signs or symptoms, the only way to test for infection during the latent period is by blood test.
- A relapse of secondary syphilis can occur once the disease has entered the latent stage. This normally will happen during the first two years of latency.
Late Stage — 1 out of 3 people who have syphilis that is not treated suffer serious damage to the nervous system, heart, brain, or other organs, and death may result. This can occur 1–20 years after the start of the infection.
How to know if you have it? Syphilis Tests:
This bacterial infection is screened for with microscopic examination of fluid from sores, blood tests, and/or examination of the spinal fluid.
Relief spells (Rolaids?!) Syphilis Treatment:
The early stages of this bacterial infection are easy to treat. A single dose of penicillin can usually cure a person who has had an infection for less than a year. Additional doses are needed to treat someone who has had syphilis for longer than a year.
For people who are allergic to penicillin, other antibiotics are available for treatment.
Keep in mind that any damage caused by syphilis in the later stages cannot be undone. If you are at risk for this bacterial infection, regular testing will help you catch the infection at its earliest, most treatable phase.
What’s going to happen to me?!!?! Syphilis Expectations:
Treatment will kill the bacterium and prevent further damage, but it will not repair damage already done.
Persons who receive treatment must abstain from sexual contact with new partners until the sores are completely healed. Persons with syphilis must notify their partners so that they also can be tested and receive treatment if necessary.
Things to be aware of… Syphilis Complications:
People with untreated syphilis may develop neurosyphilis – a potentially serious disorder of the nervous system, blindness, paralysis, and problems with your bones and internal organs, including your heart.
Infants born to mothers with syphilis can be born with very severe mental and physical problems.
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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.
