Hiv Rash | What Are The Symptoms Of Syphilis In Different Stages?
In today’s health situation, you never know if you are infected with a certain disease. So it is vital that you have knowledge about the STDs and their manifestations before its too late.
Syphilis, or in lay terms bad blood, lues, pox, and syph, is a systemic, highly infectious STD. It became less prevalent after the advent of penicillin, but the disease has been rising since about 1960, and it is one of the most commonly reported communicable diseases in the United States. It is caused by the delicate motile spirochete Treponema pallidum. Although it cannot survive long outside the body, Syphilis is highly infectious. Sexual transmission occurs only when the mucocutaneous of primary and secondary Syphilis are present. Adolescents, young adults, African American men, and homosexual men are at greatest risk.
Treponema pallidum enters the body through intact mucous membranes or abraded skin, almost exclusively by direct sexual contact. After entry, the organisms multiply locally and disseminate systematically through the bloodstream and lymphatics. The infection can also be passed through placenta from an untreated pregnant woman to her fetus during any stage of the disease. In rare instances, Syphilis has been contracted through nonsexual personal contact, accidental inoculation, or blood transfusion from the syphilitic donor. It can also progress to irreversible blindness, mental illness, paralysis, heart disease, and death. Get tested at a STD clinic near you to determine if you have acquired Syphilis to prevent the progression of the disease.
Syphilis is characterized by well defines sequential stages that occur over years; which are the primary, secondary, latent, and late or tertiary. The principal manifestation of primary Syphilis is the appearance of genital chancre. It is an oval ulcer with a raised firm border that does not bleed readily and is painless unless infected. The chancre develops at the site of inoculation, usually the genitalia, anus, or mouth. Most commonly, a single chancre occurs about four weeks after initial infection. Chancres in women often remain unnoticed. Other symptoms of Syphilis associated are enlarged lymph glands which are painless, firm, and discrete. If untreated, a chancre heals spontaneously in four to six weeks, leaving a thin, atrophic scar.
If the primary disease is untreated, secondary syphilis develops six to eight weeks after infection. Indications would be generalized rash; generalized, non-tender, discrete disease of the lymph nodes; mucous patches; broad-based, flat papule lesions; general flu-like manifestations including nausea, anorexia, constipation, headache, muscle, joint, and bone pain, and chronically elevated temperature.; and patchy hair loss from eyebrows and scalp. Secondary stage manifestations usually disappear after two to six weeks, and then latency period begins. The latent stage of Syphilis typically produces no manifestations. Latent Syphilis is defined as that period after infection with Treponema pallidum when a client is positive with blood test but shows no other evidence of the disease. During this stage, Syphilis is noninfectious except via transplacental spread or blood transfusion. Latent stage usually occurs one to two years after the primary lesion and can last as long as 50 years.
In one to 35 years after the primary infection, about 33% of clients with untreated Syphilis experience devastating, irreversible complications, such as chronic bone and joint inflammation, cardiovascular problems, granulomatous lesions on any part of the body, and ophthalmic, auditory, and central nervous system problems. This tertiary stage, although not infectious, may be terminal.
Simple STD Testing
Lesley Curtis
