Sexually transmitted diseases – Syphilis
Part 1
Syphilis can be a sexually transmitted disease (STD) that is caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum or can be a sexually transmitted infection (STI) that is caused by a spirochaete bacterium. It is often called “the great imitator” because so many of the signs and symptoms are indistinguishable from those of other diseases. It also has adopted many alternate names such as including "lues", "syph", "the Pox" (or "great pox", to distinguish it from smallpox), and the "French disease."
It can be only be transmitted through sexual contact and can be passed from person to person through direct contact with syphilis sore that occur mainly on the external genitals, vagina, anus, or in the rectum. Sores however, also can occur on the lips and in the mouth. In rare cases, it is transmitted through direct contact infections congenital syphilis (transmission from mother to child in the uterus).
The signs and symptoms of syphilis are innumerable; before the advent of serological examination, diagnosis was more difficult and the disease was coined the "Great Imitator" since it was more often confused with other diseases.
Syphilis is largely as common as gonorrhea. In the United States alone, health officials indicated over 32,000 cases of syphilis in 2002, which includes 6,862 cases of primary and secondary (P&S) syphilis. In 2002, half of all P&S syphilis cases came from 16 counties and 1 city; and majority of the P&S syphilis cases occurred in people whoa are in between 20 to 39 years of age. Syphilis in women 20 to 24 years of age recorded the highest instances than in men 35 to 39 years of age. Tallied cases of congenital syphilis in newborns plummeted from 2001 to 2002, with 492 new cases reported in 2001 against the 412 cases in 2002.
In between 2001 and 2002, the number of legitimately reported P & S syphilis cases rose to 12.4 percent. Rates in women however, eventually declined, and overall, the rate in men was already 3.5 times that in women. Note that these, in conjunction with reports of syphilis occurrences in men who have sex with men (MSM), suggest that rates of syphilis in MSM are rising.
People infected with syphilis do not have any symptoms for time, but remain at risk for later complications if they are not treated accordingly. Many of these sores are unrecognized, although transmission appears to take place from persons with sores who are in their primary or secondary stage. Hence, most transmission is from persons who are unconscious of their said infection.
SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES - Syphilis Manifestations and Cautions
Part 2
Although Syphilis is largely as common as gonorrhea, its symptoms are still often confused. The following are the different manifestations that occur at each stage of the disease:
Primary Syphilis |
Manifested after an incubation period within 10-90 days (the average is 21 days) through a primary sore. Through the initial incubation period, individuals are asymptomatic. The sore, called a chancre, is a firm, painless skin ulceration contained at the point of initial contact to the bacterium, often on the penis, vagina or rectum. Local lymph node swelling may occur. The primary lesion may eventually persist for 4 to 6 weeks and then may heal spontaneously. |
Secondary Syphilis |
Characterized by a skin rash that comes out 1-6 months (commonly 6 to 8 weeks) after the primary infection. The skin rash l0oks like a symmetrical reddish-pink non-itchy rash on the trunk and extremities, which is different to most other kinds of rash that involves the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet; in moist areas of the body the rash turns into flat broad whitish lesions oftenly called condylomata lata. Mucous patches may also come out on the genitals or in the mouth. A patient is most contagious when he or she has secondary syphilis.
Other symptoms include sore throat, fever, malaise, headache, weight loss, meningismus, and enlarged lymph nodes. While rare manifestations include an acute meningitis that appears in about 2% of patients, renal disease, hepatitis, hypertrophic gastritis, ulcerative colitis, rectosigmoid mass, patchy proctitis, arthritis, periostitis, optic neuritis, iritis, and uveitis. |
Tertiary Syphilis |
Occurs from as early as one year after the first infection but can take up to ten years to fully develop and manifest. This stage is distinguished by gummas, soft, tumor-like growths, readily seen in the skin and mucous membranes, but which can appear almost anywhere in the body, most often in the skeleton. Other characteristics of untreated syphilis infection include Charcot's joints (joint deformity), Clutton's joints (bilateral knee effusions), neurosyphilis and cardiovascular syphilis. |
Latent Syphilis |
Begins when secondary symptoms start to disappear. If without treatment, the infected person will persist to have syphilis even though there are no signs or symptoms; the infection stays in the body. Later stages of syphilis may subsequently damage the internal organs, including the brain, nerves, eyes, heart, blood vessels, liver, bones, and joints and this may show up many years later. Other serious ailments and complications as fatal as death eventually occur. |
With all these stages and the complications that may transpire during or even after the active manifestations of the stages, Syphilis is still easy to cure in its early stages. A single intramuscular injection of penicillin, or an antibiotic, will already cure a person who has had syphilis for not more than a year. Additional doses are necessary to treat someone who has had syphilis for more than a year. However for people who are known to be biologically unyielding to penicillin, there are other antibiotics available as medication. Note also that there no home remedies or common over-the-counter drugs that will be available for the cure. Through treatment the syphilis bacterium will be killed and thus prevents further damage, yet it will not repair damage already done.
Because of this effective treatment, it is then important that persons be screened for syphilis on a regular basis if their sexual urges put them at risk for STDs.
Those people who receive syphilis treatment should abstain from sexual contact with new partners until the syphilis sores are totally healed. People with syphilis must inform their sex partners so that they also can be examined and receive treatment if necessary. |
