Syphilis - A Curse Then, Till Now

By now you have known that syphilis is an STD that can generally be transmitted through sexual contact. It is a communicable disease, development of which is sure but may appear in an irregular manner. It is generally transmitted through direct contact of the infected genitals, and rarely by other means. It can damage any tissue or organ.

The stage where the spirochete starts to invade the body is called primary syphilis. It starts where the infectious lesion had a direct contact, most likely in the penis, the labia and the uterine cervix. It can be observed from the medical history that first contact with an infected person would have been a week to 2 months ago. The characteristic lesion is typified by a chancre, the point of first exposure.

It will take an average of 21 days for the spirochete to develop, depending on different factors. The chancre starts to erode slightly and quickly develops into a painless surface wound. Inflammation of regional ganglions will be noticed though it will be isolated, mobile, and also painless.

Secondary syphilis is the period where the infection starts to spread, appearing after 7-10 weeks from first exposure and 2-3 weeks after the primary infection, wherein the microbes migrate from the ganglions in great numbers. There will be a resulting second incubation until skin ulcerations come out within 45 days from appearance of first signs and 60-70 days from first contact with infection.

It is sometimes accompanied by fever. Almost any tissue of the body can be accidentally caught and hurt. However, the most frequent will be the lesions of the teguments and mucous membranes. Lesions on teguments are pustules like elements even if the most frequent rash looks like viral skin disease.

Syphilis will occur recurrently if not diagnosed and treated correctly. This is when the infection will progress to the next stage, the secondary syphilis, 3 to 9 months after treatment. Relapses can be happening in the blood without any developing any outward symptoms. If manifestations appear, lesions will appear in the skin and mucous membranes. There will also be neurological and visceral symptoms, sore eyes; bones will be affected.

In latent syphilis, infection has been diagnosed in the blood but present no clinical manifestations. It is the period between secondary resumption and progress towards the tertiary stage.

During this stage, there is serologic evidence of syphilis infection; the LCR exam is negative; other exams such as ECG and radiological exam will show lesions of the cardiovascular organs.

The third stage of the infection or tertiary syphilis can emerge even after years of latency. At the late latency stage, lesions might appear perhaps as an allergic reaction of the tissue to Treponema Palladium, affecting tissues of the skin and the mucous membranes. Small lesions can develop and become nodules. The mucous membranes can also develop tubercles and lesions.

An infected mother can pass on the infection to her baby through the fetus placenta flow, thus the baby will be born with congenital syphilis. The father cannot transmit it to the baby if the mother is not infected.

Precocious congenital syphilis is the type with which the child is born or it occurs during the first two years of life. It is characterized by blister like signs, sometimes ulcerous.

Late congenital syphilis sets off after two years from birth and the lesions that will appear denote that the disease is already in its third stage.