Syphilis - Pamphlet

Syphilis, one time a cause of devastating epidemics, can be effectively diagnosed and treated with antibiotic therapy. In 1996 11387 cases of primary and secondary syphilis in the United States were reported to the U Center for Disease sway and Prevention. Although treatment is available, the early symptoms of syphilis can be real mild, and many people do not search for treatment when they first become infected. Of increasing relate to is the fact that syphilis increases the risk of transmitting and acquiring the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS.

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease (STD) caused by dint of a bacterium called Treponema pallidum. The initial infection causes an sore at the site of infection; however, the bacteria stir throughout the body, damaging many organs above time. Medical experts describe the course of the disease through dividing it into four stages -- primary, secondary, latent, and tertiary (late). An infected one who has not been treated may infect others during the first sum of two units stages, which usually last individual to two years. In its late stages, untreated syphilis, although not contagious, can cause serious heart abnormalities, mental disorders, blindness, other neurologic moot points and death.

The bacterium spreads from the initial fester of an infected person to the skin or mucous membranes of the genital area, the jaws or the anus of a sexual partner. It also can pass from one side broken skin on other parts of the material part The syphilis bacterium is true fragile, and the infection is almost always spread by dint of sexual contact. In addition, a pregnant woman with syphilis can pass the bacterium to her unborn child, who may be born with serious mental and physical point to be solved [i]or[/i] settleds as a result of this infection. on the contrary the most common way to achieve syphilis is to have sex with someone who has an active infection.

Symptoms

The first symptom of primary syphilis is an imposthume called a chancre ("shan-ker"). The chancre can appear within 10 days to three month after exposing but it generally appears within sum of two units to six weeks. Because the chancre may be painless and may arise inside the body, it may advance unnoticed. It usually is fix on the part of the material part exposed to the partner's gathering such as the penis, the vulva, or the vagina. A chancre also can unfold on the cervix, tongue, lips, or other parts of the material part The chancre disappears within a not many weeks whether or not a individual is treated. If not treated during the primary stage, about one-third of tribe will progress to chronic stages.

Secondary syphilis is ofttimes marked by a skin rash that is characterized by the agency of brown sores about the size of a penny The rash appears anywhere from three to six weeks after the chancre appears. While the rash may overlay the whole body or appear alone in a few areas, the palms of the hands and uniques of the feet are almost always involved. Because active bacteria are at hand in these sores, any physical contact -- sexual or nonsexual -- with the severed skin of an infected one may spread the infection at this stage. The rash usually heals within several weeks or month Other symptoms also may present itself such as mild fever, fatigue, headache, sore throat, as well as patchy hair los and swollen lymph glands from one extremity to the other of the body. These symptoms may be actual mild and, like the chancre of primary syphilis, will disappear without treatment. The signs of secondary syphilis may draw near and go over the nearest one to two years.

If untreated, syphilis may lapse into a latent stage during which the disease is no longer contagious and no symptoms are at hand Many people who are not treated will meet with no further consequences of the disease. Approximately one-third of those who have secondary syphilis, however, pass on to develop the complications of late, or tertiary, syphilis, in which the bacteria damage the heart, organ of visions brain, nervous system, bones, joints, or almost any other part of the material substance This stage can last for years, or plane for decades. Late syphilis, the final stage, can proceed in mental illness, blindness, other neurologic point to be solved [i]or[/i] settleds heart disease, and death.

Neurosyphilis: Syphilis bacteria not seldom invade the nervous system during the early stages of infection, and approximately 3 to 7 percent of somebodys with untreated syphilis develop neurosyphilis. more [i]or[/i] less persons with neurosyphilis never exhibit any symptoms. Others may have headache, stiff neck and febrile affection that result from an inflammation of the lining of the brain. more [i]or[/i] less patients develop seizures. Patients whose vital fluid vessels are affected may evolve symptoms of stroke with resulting numbnes weakness, or visual complaints. In a certain quantity of 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 be different in tribe with HIV infection.

Diagnosis

Syphilis has sometimes been called "the great imitator" because its early symptoms are similar to those of many other diseases. Sexually active tribe should consult a doctor about any suspicious rash or sore in the genital area. Those who have been treated for another STD of that kind as gonorrhea, should be ordealed to be sure they have not also acquired syphilis.