Syphilis

Syphilis, once a cause of devastating epidemics, can be effectively diagnosed and treated beside antibiotic therapy. In 1996, 11,387 cases of primary and inferior syphilis in the United States be reported to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although treatment is available, the early symptoms of syphilis can be tremendously mild, and many ethnic group do not seek treatment when they first become infected. Of increasing concern is the reality that syphilis increases the risk of transmitting and acquiring the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that cause AIDS.

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease (STD) caused by a bacterium call Treponema pallidum. The initial infection causes an spot at the site of infection; however, the bacteria move throughout the body, hurtful many organs over time. Medical experts describe the course of the disease by dividing it into four stages -- primary, minor, latent, and tertiary (late). An infected individual who has not be treated may infect others during the first two stages, which usually last one to two years. In its tardy stages, untreated syphilis, although not contagious, can cause serious heart abnormality, mental disorders, blindness, other neurologic problems, and death.

The bacterium spreads from the initial sore of an infected person to the skin or mucous membranes of the genital nouns, the mouth, or the anus of a sexual partner. It also can pass through broken skin on other parts of the body. The syphilis bacterium is impressively fragile, and the infection is almost always spread by sexual contact. In accumulation, a pregnant woman with syphilis can go by the bacterium to her unborn child, who may be born with serious mental and physical problems as a result of this infection. But the most adjectives way to win syphilis is to have sex next to someone who has an involved infection.

Symptoms

The first symptom of primary syphilis is an ulcer call a chancre ("shan-ker"). The chancre can appear within 10 days to three months after exposure, but it largely appears within two to six weeks. Because the chancre may be painless and may come about inside the body, it may go unnoticed. It usually is found on the constituent of the body exposed to the partner's ulcer, such as the penis, the vulva, or the vagina. A chancre also can develop on the cervix, tongue, chops, or other parts of the body. The chancre disappears within a few weeks whether or not a human being is treated. If not treated during the primary stage, about one-third of ethnic group will progress to chronic stages.

Secondary syphilis is often obvious by a skin rash specifically characterized by brown sores about the size of a penny. The unwary appears anywhere from three to six weeks after the chancre appears. While the rash may cover the in one piece body or appear only within a few areas, the palms of the hands and soles of the foot are almost always involved. Because live bacteria are present within these sores, any physical contact -- sexual or nonsexual -- with the broken skin of an infected individual may spread the infection at this stage. The rash usually heal within several weeks or months. Other symptoms also may come about, such as mild fever, fatigue, headache, sore throat, as ably as patchy hair loss, and swollen lymph glands throughout the body. These symptoms may be massively mild and, like the chancre of primary syphilis, will disappear short treatment. The signs of secondary syphilis may come and walk over the next one to two years.

If untreated, syphilis may lapse into a resting stage during which the disease is no longer contagious and no symptoms are present. Many people who are not treated will suffer no further consequences of the disease. Approximately one-third of those who enjoy secondary syphilis, however, travel on to develop the complications of late, or tertiary, syphilis, surrounded by which the bacteria desecrate the heart, eyes, brain, nervous system, bones, joint, or almost any other part of the body. This stage can finishing for years, or even for decades. Late syphilis, the final stage, can result in mental illness, blindness, other neurologic problems, heart disease, and departure.

Neurosyphilis: Syphilis bacteria frequently invade the uptight system during the early stages of infection, and approximately 3 to 7 percent of those with untreated syphilis develop neurosyphilis. Some folks with neurosyphilis never develop any symptoms. Others may enjoy headache, stiff neck, and confusion that result from an inflammation of the lining of the brain. Some patients develop seizure. Patients whose blood vessels are artificial may develop symptoms of stroke with resulting numbness, spinelessness, or visual complaints. In some instances, the time from infection to developing neurosyphilis may be up to 20 years. Neurosyphilis may be more difficult to treat and its course may change in ancestors with HIV infection.

Diagnosis

Syphilis have sometimes been call "the great imitator" because its precipitate symptoms are similar to those of many other diseases. Sexually moving people should consult a doctor more or less any suspicious rash or sore surrounded by the genital area. Those who hold been treated for another STD, such as gonorrhea, should be tested to be sure they enjoy not also acquired syphilis.

There are three ways to diagnose syphilis: a doctor's confession of its signs and symptoms; microscopic identification of syphilis microbes; and blood tests. The doctor usually uses these approaches together to detect syphilis and desire upon the stage of infection.

To diagnose syphilis by identifying the germs, the doctor takes a scrape from the surface of the ulcer or chancre, and examines it beneath a special "darkfield" microscope to detect the organism itself. Blood tests also provide evidence of infection, although they may make a contribution false- negative results (not show signs of infection despite its presence) for up to three months after infection. False-positive test also can occur; hence, two blood tests are usually used. Interpretation of blood test for syphilis can be difficult, and repeated tests are sometimes vital to confirm the diagnosis.

The blood-screening tests most recurrently used to detect evidence of syphilis are the VDRL (Venereal Disease Research Laboratory) test and the RPR (rapid plasma reagin) assessment. The false-positive results (showing signs of infection when it is not present) occur surrounded by people near autoimmune disorders, certain viral infections, and other conditions.

Therefore, a doctor will administer a confirmatory blood exam when the initial test is positive. These test include the fluorescent treponemal antibody-absorption (FTA-ABS) test that can accurately detect 70 to 90 percent of cases. Another specific check is the T. pallidum hemagglutination assay (TPHA). These tests detect syphilis antibodies (proteins made by a character's immune system to fight infection). They are not adjectives for diagnosing a new baggage of syphilis in patients who hold had the disease previously because once antibodies are formed, they remain in the body for plentiful years. These antibodies, however, do not protect against a new syphilis infection. In some patients beside syphilis (especially in the inactive or late stages), a lumbar puncture (spinal tap) must be done to check for infection of the uptight system.

Treatment

Syphilis usually is treated with penicillin, administered by injection. Other antibiotics can be used for patients allergic to penicillin. A soul usually can no longer transmit syphilis 24 hours after beginning psychiatric help. Some people, however, do not respond to the usual doses of penicillin. Therefore, it is considerable that people individual treated for syphilis have intervallic blood tests to check that the infectious agent have been completely destroyed. Persons near neurosyphilis may need to be retested for up to two years after treatment. In adjectives stages of syphilis, proper treatment will cure the disease, but in overdue syphilis, damage already done to body organs cannot be reversed.

Effects of Syphilis surrounded by Pregnant Women

It is likely that an untreated pregnant woman near active syphilis will pass by the infection to her unborn child. About 25 percent of these pregnancies result in stillbirth or neonatal death. Between 40 to 70 percent of such pregnancies will give up a syphilis-infected infant.

Some infants with congenital syphilis may own symptoms at birth, but most develop symptoms between two weeks and three months later. These symptoms may include skin sores, rash, fever, powerless or hoarse crying sounds, swollen liver and spleen, yellowish skin (jaundice), anemia, and various deformity. Care must be taken in handling an infant next to congenital syphilis because the moist sores are infectious.

Rarely, the symptoms of syphilis go undetected contained by infants. As infected infants become older children and teenagers, they may develop the symptoms of late-stage syphilis including spoil to their bones, teeth, eyes, ears, and brain.

Prevention

The open sores of syphilis may be detectable and infectious during the active stages of infection. Any contact beside these infectious sores and other infected tissues and body fluids must be avoided to prevent spread of the disease. As with masses other STDs, methods of prevention include using condoms during sexual intercourse. Screening and treatment of infected individuals, or secondary prevention, is one of the few option for preventing the advance stages of the disease. Testing and treatment rash in pregnancy is the best agency to prevent syphilis in infants and should be a routine section of prenatal care.

Research

Developing better ways to diagnose and treat syphilis is an big research goal of scientists supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). New test are being developed that may provide better ways to diagnose syphilis and mark out the stage of infection.

In an effort to stem the spread of syphilis, scientists are conducting research on a vaccine. Molecular biologists are erudition more about the different surface components of the syphilis bacterium that stimulate the immune system to respond to the invading organism. This knowledge will pave the instrument for development of an decisive vaccine that can ultimately prevent this STD.

A high priority for researchers is nouns of a diagnostic test that does not require a blood taster. Saliva and urine are being evaluated to see whether they would work as capably as blood. Researchers also are trying to develop other diagnostic tests for detecting infection in babies.

Another large research priority is the development of a risk-free, effective, single-dose oral antibiotic analysis for syphilis. Many patients do not like getting an injection for treatment, and in the order of 10 percent of the general population is allergic to penicillin.

Recently, the genome of this organism have been sequenced. The sequence represents an encyclopedia of information more or less the organism. Clues as to how to diagnose, treat, and vaccinate against syphilis enjoy been identified already and are fueling intensive research hard work in this ancient but intractable disease.

NIAID, a component of the National Institutes of Health, supports research on AIDS, tuberculosis and other infectious diseases as in good health as allergies and immunology.