What else should I know?

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease caused by the corkscrew-shaped bacteria (spirochete) Treponema pallidium. The bacteria infect your body during sex with an infected partner. Within 90 days of infection (three week average), a painless sore or ulcer called a chancre appears. For men, the chancre is usually found on or around the penis, anus or mouth. For women, the chancre is usually found in or around the vagina. This first stage of syphilis is called primary syphilis. The chancre contains a clear fluid that is full of syphilis-causing bacteria, making you highly contagious. The chancre will heal even without treatment within a few weeks.

If left untreated, the disease will progress through its various cycles. After the chancre heals, usually you will go through a short period of time, about a month, when you do not have any symptoms, a latent period. After that time of latency, other symptoms appear. This is called secondary syphilis. Some people can have the chancre and secondary syphilis symptoms simultaneously or in rapid succession without a latency period.

Secondary symptoms can include multiple sores on the penis, anus or inside the rectum, in or around the vagina, around the mouth, a copper-colored rash on the trunk of the body, or larger spots on the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet, hair loss, white patches on the tongue or multiple wart-like growths called condylomata lata around the genitals. As it generally takes several months for a person to get secondary symptoms after they were exposed to syphilis, many people don’t associate these symptoms with sex. Some people think the rashes are an allergic reaction and blame the hair loss on new hair care products. All of these symptoms will go away even without treatment, within a few weeks. However, you are still infectious during this stage. You need to have a test for syphilis and be treated if you are infected.

During any period of time when you have syphilis but do not have symptoms, you are in what is considered a latent stage of syphilis infection. If you were infected with syphilis in the past year and do not have symptoms, you will be diagnosed with early latent syphilis. If you were infected with syphilis more than a year ago and do not have symptoms, you will be diagnosed with late latent syphilis.

If untreated, 1/3 of those infected with syphilis progress to tertiary syphilis, usually over 10-20 years. Although no longer contagious, the disease can prove lethal. Syphilis commonly attacks the brain and spinal cord (neurosyphilis), leading to blindness, paralysis, and even insanity. It can also affect the heart and major blood vessels in the chest (cardiovascular syphilis) leading to heart failure, aortic aneurysm, and death. If you are HIV+ or immune compromised, the progression to neurosyphilis can occur in a much shorter period of time.

More Facts:

A simple blood test can tell if you have been infected with Syphilis.
Syphilis, in the early stages, is 100% curable.
You can get a low cost, confidential test any day of the week at your local county health department.
Your primary care physician can also do the test for you.
Syphilis is on the rise across the country and in European cities, but efforts around awareness, education and increased testing are tools which can prevent disease and help to eliminate syphilis.
Sometimes people with syphilis don't recognize the symptoms. If untreated, the symptoms will go away, but you are still infectious - you still have syphilis and can pass it to others. Left untreated, syphilis can cause major organ damage, or worse.
Pregnant women can transmit syphilis to their unborn child. Untreated syphilis during pregnancy can lead to stillbirth, neonatal death, or infant disorders such as deafness, neurologic impairment, and bone deformities. All pregnant women should be tested for syphilis at intervals during their pregnancy and at delivery to be certain of their status and should be treated if they are positive or have had sex with someone who KNOWS they have syphilis. Testing and treatment is the best way to protect the health of the baby and mother.
Syphilis makes it three to five times easier to get or give HIV.

By exploring our website you will find a comprehensive list of county health departments where you can get tested for syphilis, read tips on how to tell your sexual partners in case you may have exposed them to syphilis, and you will gain a better understanding of the links between HIV and syphilis, among other things. The goal is to arm you with as much information as you'd like so you can make healthy, well-informed decisions about your sexual life.

If you’re at risk, get tested.