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Practicing safe sex is crucial to the prevention of sexually transmitted infections. Learn more. Health Conditions Discover Plan Connect. Type 2 Diabetes. Syphilis Medically reviewed by Suzanne Falck, M.
Symptoms by stage Picture Diagnosis Treatment Prevention Complications Testing We include products we think are useful for our readers. What is syphilis? Stages of syphilis infection. Picture of syphilis. Share on Pinterest. How is syphilis diagnosed? Treating and curing syphilis.
How to prevent syphilis. Complications associated with syphilis. When should I test for syphilis? Medically reviewed by Suzanne Falck, M. Secondary Syphilis. Read this next. Why Are My Testicles Itchy?
Medically reviewed by Daniel Murrell, M. Medically reviewed by Janet Brito, Ph. The symptoms depend on which organs have been affected. They vary widely and can be difficult to diagnose. Symptoms include:. The health care provider will perform a physical exam and ask about the symptoms.
Tests that may be done include:. Length of treatment depends on how severe the syphilis is, and factors such as the person's overall health. To treat syphilis during pregnancy, penicillin is the drug of choice.
Tetracycline cannot be used for treatment because it is dangerous to the unborn baby. Erythromycin may not prevent congenital syphilis in the baby. People who are allergic to penicillin should ideally be desensitized to it, and then treated with penicillin. Several hours after getting treatment for the early stages of syphilis, people may experience the Jarisch-Herxheimer reaction.
This process is caused by an immune reaction to the breakdown products of the infection and not an allergic reaction to the antibiotic. Follow-up blood tests must be done at 3, 6, 12, and 24 months to ensure that the infection is gone.
Avoid sexual contact when the chancre is present. Use condoms until two follow-up tests have shown that the infection has been cured, to reduce the chance of transmitting the infection. The bacteria enter the body through minor cuts or abrasions in the skin or mucous membranes. Syphilis is contagious during its primary and secondary stages, and sometimes in the early latent period. Less commonly, syphilis may spread through direct contact with an active lesion, such as during kissing.
It can also be passed from mothers to their babies during pregnancy or childbirth. Syphilis can't be spread by using the same toilet, bathtub, clothing or eating utensils, or from doorknobs, swimming pools or hot tubs. Once cured, syphilis doesn't return on its own. However, you can become reinfected if you have contact with someone's syphilis sore. Without treatment, syphilis can lead to damage throughout your body. Syphilis also increases the risk of HIV infection and can cause problems during pregnancy.
Treatment can help prevent future damage but can't repair or reverse damage that's already occurred. In the late stage of syphilis, bumps gummas can develop on the skin, bones, liver or any other organ. Gummas usually disappear after treatment with antibiotics. These may include bulging and swelling of the aorta — your body's major artery — and of other blood vessels. Syphilis may also damage heart valves.
Adults with sexually transmitted syphilis or other genital ulcers have an estimated two- to fivefold increased risk of contracting HIV. A syphilis sore can bleed easily, providing an easy way for HIV to enter the bloodstream during sexual activity. If you're pregnant, you may pass syphilis to your unborn baby. Congenital syphilis greatly increases the risk of miscarriage, stillbirth or your newborn's death within a few days after birth.
There is no vaccine for syphilis. To help prevent the spread of syphilis, follow these suggestions:. If tests show that you have syphilis, your sex partners — including current partners and any other partners you've had over the last three months to one year — need to be informed so that they can get tested. If they're infected, they can then be treated. Official, confidential partner notification can help limit the spread of syphilis. The practice also steers those at risk toward counseling and the right treatment.
And since you can contract syphilis more than once, partner notification reduces your risk of getting reinfected. The average time between acquisition of syphilis and the start of the first symptom is 21 days, but can range from 10 to 90 days.
However, syphilis typically follows a progression of stages that can last for weeks, months, or even years:. The appearance of a single chancre marks the primary first stage of syphilis symptoms, but there may be multiple sores. The chancre is usually but not always firm, round, and painless. It appears at the location where syphilis entered the body. These painless chancres can occur in locations that make them difficult to notice e.
The chancre lasts 3 to 6 weeks and heals regardless of whether a person is treated or not. However, if the infected person does not receive adequate treatment, the infection progresses to the secondary stage. This stage typically starts with the development of a rash on one or more areas of the body.
Rashes associated with secondary syphilis can appear when the primary chancre is healing or several weeks after the chancre has healed. The rash usually does not cause itching. The characteristic rash of secondary syphilis may appear as rough, red, or reddish brown spots both on the palms of the hands and the bottoms of the feet.
However, rashes with a different appearance may occur on other parts of the body, sometimes resembling rashes caused by other diseases. Sometimes rashes associated with secondary syphilis are so faint that they are not noticed. Large, raised, gray or white lesions, known as condyloma lata, may develop in warm, moist areas such as the mouth, underarm or groin region.
In addition to rashes, symptoms of secondary syphilis may include fever, swollen lymph glands, sore throat, patchy hair loss, headaches, weight loss, muscle aches, and fatigue. The symptoms of secondary syphilis will go away with or without treatment. However, without treatment, the infection will progress to the latent and possibly tertiary stage of disease.
The latent hidden stage of syphilis is a period of time when there are no visible signs or symptoms of syphilis. Without treatment, the infected person will continue to have syphilis in their body even though there are no signs or symptoms.
Early latent syphilis is latent syphilis where infection occurred within the past 12 months. Late latent syphilis is latent syphilis where infection occurred more than 12 months ago. Latent syphilis can last for years. Tertiary syphilis is rare and develops in a subset of untreated syphilis infections;, it can appear 10—30 years after infection was first acquired, and it can be fatal.
Tertiary syphilis can affect multiple organ systems, including the brain, nerves, eyes, heart, blood vessels, liver, bones, and joints. Symptoms of tertiary syphilis vary depending on the organ system affected. Syphilis can invade the nervous system neurosyphilis , visual system ocular syphilis , or auditory system otosyphilis at any stage of infection.
These infections can cause a wide range of symptoms. When a pregnant woman has syphilis, the infection can be transmitted to her unborn baby.
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