What is the symptoms and complications of syphilis

by Heba Soffar · Published April 12, 2015 · Updated September 4, 2016

Syphilis

Syphilis is a disease arise from sexual contacts ( sexually transmitted diseases ” STD ” , it causes the miscarriages , the premature births , or the stillbirths , and it causes the death of newborn babies .

Syphilis is caused by a spiral-shaped bacteria called Treponema pallidum , the bacteria can pass from the infected skin or mucous membranes during the sexual contact with an infected person or a carrier person .

The bacteria can pass from the pregnant woman to her fetus ( through the umblical cord or during the delivery ) csusing a disease called congenital syphilis .

Syphilis can not be passed during sharing the food or the utensils or from using the tubs , the pools , or the toilets , the incubation period of this disease is from 2 to 3 weeks .

The symptoms

Secondary Syphilis

The symptoms are appearance of painless hard ulcer on the head of penis ( in male ) , in the vagina and in the upper part of cervix ( in female ) .

There will be a dark brass colored rashes on the back and hands of the patient , and there will be other symptoms as the fever , aches , weight loss , hair loss , aching joints , or lesions ( sores ) in the mouth or the genital area .

Syphilis can cause painless sores on the genitals called chancre sores , It causes rash over the body , It causes sterility and death if it is left untreated .

There are stages of syphilis , In the first stage , There are sore , chancre that found in the genital area such as the inner part of vagina in the woman , and the penis for men , The chancres do not result in pain , and it will disappear without treatment .

In the secondary stage , there are skin rash , rough , reddish brown spots on the palms of hands and the bottoms of feet , The mucous membrane lesions throughout the body without ichiness , there will be fever , sore throat , the headache , swollen gland , weight loss , muscle ache and fatigue .

In the tertiary stage , there will be blood vessels , cardiac , nerve system problems , there will be damaged internal organs , And it causes the death , The latent stage , The symptoms disappear for 1-20 years , diagnosis through the blood testing , and relapse the symptoms .

The complications

If the patient is not treated as soon as the appearance of symptoms , this leads to the appearance of tumors in different body parts like the liver , the bones and the parts of genital system .

Syphilis can cause blindness , deafness , memory loss or other neurologic problems , the heart disease , and the brain may also damaged and the patient will die .

Treatment

Syphilis can be treated in all the symptoms stages by penicillin , an antibiotic , injected into the muscle which is the best treatment for syphilis .

If you are allergic to penicillin , your healthcare provider may give you another antibiotic to take by mouth , and you should prevent the sexual contact with infected person , and you must prevent illegal contacts .

All pregnant women should be tested for syphilis , and most cases of congenital syphilis can be avoided with appropriate screening and treatment of pregnant women , and the abortion of the infected pregnant .