Syphilis

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• Summary
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• Diagnosis and Tests

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Summary

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease caused by bacteria. It infects the genital area, lips, mouth, or anus of both men and women. You usually get syphilis from sexual contact with someone who has it. It can also pass from mother to baby during pregnancy.

The early stage of syphilis usually causes a single, small, painless sore. Sometimes it causes swelling in nearby lymph nodes. If you do not treat it, syphilis usually causes a non-itchy skin rash, often on your hands and feet. Many people do not notice symptoms for years. Symptoms can go away and come back.

The sores caused by syphilis make it easier to get or give someone HIV during sex. If you are pregnant, syphilis can cause complications, or you could lose your baby. In rare cases, syphilis causes serious health problems and even death.

Syphilis is easy to cure with antibiotics if you catch it early. Correct usage of latex condoms greatly reduces, but does not completely eliminate, the risk of catching or spreading syphilis. If your or your partner is allergic to latex, you can use polyurethane condoms. The most reliable way to avoid infection is to not have anal, vaginal, or oral sex.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Start Here

• Syphilis (American Academy of Family Physicians) Also in Spanish
• Syphilis (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) Also in Spanish
• Syphilis (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish

Diagnosis and Tests

• Syphilis Tests (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish

Related Issues

• Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, and Syphilis (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists)
• Neurosyphilis (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke)

Specifics

• Tabes Dorsalis (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke)

Images

• Primary Syphilis (VisualDX)

Statistics and Research

• Sexually Transmitted Diseases Surveillance, 2020: Syphilis (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• Syphilis (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)

Clinical Trials

• ClinicalTrials.gov: Syphilis (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: Factors associated with women diagnosed with syphilis who received prenatal care...
• Article: The history of antiphospholipid syndrome.
• Article: Undeclared pre-exposure or post-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP/PEP) use among syphilis-positive blood donors,...
• Syphilis -- see more articles

Find an Expert

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Also in Spanish
• National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Children

• Syphilis (American Academy of Pediatrics) Also in Spanish

Teenagers

• Syphilis (Nemours Foundation)

Men

• Syphilis and MSM (Men Who Have Sex with Men) (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) Also in Spanish

Women

• Syphilis (Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Women's Health) Also in Spanish
• Syphilis in Pregnancy (March of Dimes Foundation) Also in Spanish

Patient Handouts

• Condom Fact Sheet in Brief (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - PDF Also in Spanish
• Congenital syphilis (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• CSF-VDRL test (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• FTA-ABS test (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Neurosyphilis (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• RPR test (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Syphilis - primary (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• VDRL test (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish