Syphilis

Syphilis
Classification and external resources
Treponema pallidum bacteria under an electron microscope
ICD-10	A50.-A53.
ICD-9	090-097
DiseasesDB	29054
MedlinePlus	001327
eMedicine	med/2224 emerg/563 derm/413
MeSH	D013587

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by a bacterium called Treponema pallidum. Syphilis is usually spread by sexual contact. However, a fetus can get syphilis from its mother while she is pregnant or during childbirth. This is called congenital syphilis.

There are four stages of syphilis: the primary, secondary, latent, and tertiary stages. In each stage, the signs and symptoms of syphilis are different.

In the primary stage, a person usually just has a wound on their skin, called a "chancre." In the secondary stage, a person usually gets a rash. In the "latent" stage, syphilis has few or no symptoms. If syphilis reaches the tertiary stage, which is the most severe, it causes many serious symptoms. These can include problems with the nervous system (the brain and nerves) and problems with the heart. Many people with tertiary syphilis will die if they do not get medical treatment.

Syphilis is usually diagnosed with blood tests. The bacteria that causes syphilis can also be seen under a microscope. Most people who have syphilis can be treated and cured with antibiotics.

By 1999, more than 12 million people around the world had syphilis. More than 90% of these people (10.8 million) lived in the developing world.^[1] Syphilis got much less common after penicillin became available in the 1940s. At that time, penicillin was used as a treatment for syphilis, and often cured the disease. Since 2000, syphilis is becoming more common again.^[1]

Syphilis is a very dangerous disease if it is not treated. Without treatment, 8% to 58% of people with syphilis die from the disease. Syphilis also makes a person two to five times more likely to get Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).^[1][2]

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2. ↑ Cite error: The named reference Kent08 was used but no text was provided for refs named (see the help page).