People often fail to notice it right away. Syphilis can be challenging to diagnose. Someone can have it without showing any symptoms for years. However, the earlier syphilis is discovered, the better. Syphilis that remains untreated for a long time can cause major damage to important organs, like the heart and brain. Syphilis is only spread through direct contact with syphilitic chancres. When syphilis is in the hidden, or latent, stage, the disease remains active but often with no symptoms.
Tertiary syphilis is the most destructive to health. The primary stage of syphilis occurs about three to four weeks after a person contracts the bacteria. It begins with a small, round sore called a chancre. This sore may appear wherever the bacteria entered the body, such as on or inside the mouth, genitals, or rectum. On average, the sore shows up around three weeks after infection, but it can take between 10 and 90 days to appear. The sore remains for anywhere between two to six weeks. Syphilis is transmitted by direct contact with a sore.
This usually occurs during sexual activity, including oral sex. Skin rashes and a sore throat may develop during the second stage of syphilis. These symptoms will go away whether or not treatment is received. However, without treatment, a person still has syphilis. The third stage of syphilis is the latent, or hidden, stage. However, the bacteria remain in the body. This stage could last for years before progressing to tertiary syphilis. The last stage of infection is tertiary syphilis.
Tertiary syphilis can occur years or decades after the initial infection. Tertiary syphilis can be life-threatening. Some other potential outcomes of tertiary syphilis include:. Stacey Rizza, M. Vivien Williams: It may then progress to latent stage syphilis and, finally, the most serious stage: tertiary.
Pregnant women are not immune to syphilis. Congenital syphilis can lead to miscarriage, stillbirth or infant deaths.
That's why all pregnant women should be screened. Syphilis is preventable and treatable. As for prevention, Dr. Rizza recommends barrier protection during sex. Rizza: And that's during oral sex, anal sex, vaginal sex — using condoms, dental dams and any other barrier protection. The cause of syphilis is a bacterium called Treponema pallidum. The most common way syphilis is spread is through contact with an infected person's sore during sexual activity. 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. It can happen during any of the stages of syphilis. People with neurosyphilis can have:. A type of bacteria called Treponema pallidum causes syphilis. To find out if someone has syphilis, health care providers usually do a blood test.
Fluid from the chancre also can be tested. Someone who has symptoms of neurosyphilis will get a spinal tap lumbar puncture. This test collects some fluid from around the brain and spinal cord for testing in a lab. Health care providers treat syphilis with antibiotics. These medicines are given as a shot or through an IV a tiny tube that goes into a vein. How long treatment is needed depends on what stage of syphilis someone is in.
Syphilis can be cured. But the medical problems it can lead to — such as dementia, artery damage, or blindness — usually can't be cured. All sexual partners should get tested and treated, if necessary:. Learn More Related Issues Specifics. See, Play and Learn Images. Resources Find an Expert. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Start Here. Diagnosis and Tests. Related Issues. Primary Syphilis VisualDX.
0コメント