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Posted by: SexOracle, on 6/28/2009
, in category "STDs"
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Abstract: The medieval images of disfigured and deformed victims spring to mind when the word syphilis is mentioned. Unfortunately it wasn’t left in the dark ages and is still one of the most common bacterial STDs in the United States today.
The medieval images of disfigured and deformed victims spring to mind when the word syphilis is mentioned. Unfortunately it wasn’t left in the dark ages and is still one of the most common bacterial STDs in the United States today.
Danger level
Syphilis can cause death by infecting internal organs and systems. It also makes the chances of the carrier catching HIV twice to five times the normal risk, because of the open sores that appear on the skin in the first stage of syphilitic infection. A pregnant woman infected with syphilis risks miscarriage, stillbirth, or a severely brain damaged baby.
Catching syphilis
Syphilis is caused by direct transmission of the bacteria Treponema pallidum. In most cases this transmission occurs during sex, but an infected mother can also pass it on to her baby during childbirth. The disease has three stages of infection, and is passed on from carriers in the first or second stage.
Symptoms
In the primary stage, open, wet sores, or chancres, appear on infected skin. If sexually transmitted, chancres will be located on the penis, labia, inside the vagina, on or inside the anus, inside the mouth, and on the cervix. At this stage, the bacteria that cause the chancres multiply dramatically.
The second stage may occur a few weeks after initial infection. It is characterised by a red or brown spotty rash on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet (and sometimes elsewhere). The rash is painless but can appear simultaneously with flu-like symptoms: sore throat, fever, muscle pain, and swollen lymph nodes. These symptoms may eventually disappear for up to a few decades if untreated, but the bacteria do not. They continue to multiply and invade the internal organs and systems.
The third stage of syphilis, which can be decades after the second stage, is the most horrible. The pictures of ulcer-deformed faces that spring to mind are of people in this stage of infection. Large ulcers cover the skin, bones and organs, including the heart, causing fatal haemorrhaging.
Diagnosis
Syphilis can be detected by a blood test and an examination of the fluid discharged from any chancres.
Treatment and cure
If detected within a year of infection, syphilis can be eradicated with one injection of penicillin. If detected at a later stage of infection, a series of penicillin doses might be necessarily to cure a patient of syphilis. For people that are allergic to penicillin, there are other treatments available. Having had syphilis and been cured of it does not give a person immunity to re-infection. An ex-syphilis sufferer needs to take the same precautions to avoid being infected with syphilis as everybody else does.
Prevalence
At the beginning of the 20th century, one in 22 Americans (that’s 4.5%) was infected with syphilis. Three years ago, 36,000 new cases were reported in the USA.
Prevention
Apart from abstaining from sex with others and enjoying more solo time, the best ways to prevent catching STDs such as syphilis are to restrict sexual activity to stable, monogamous relationships in which both partners have been tested and cleared of any STDs, and to use condoms. Don’t be afraid to talk to a new sexual partner about their (and your) health history. A moment of awkwardness is better than a potential lifetime of disease.
Syphilis pictures
If this article hasn’t scared you into practicing safer sex by now, these pictures will. If you see these on your partner’s body, do not touch until they are treated and cured.
More information
Other STDs
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