Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs)
Syphilis
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by a bacteria.
If a person who has syphilis is left untreated, the infection can cause serious health problems after a few years, such as alterations of the cardiovascular or nervous system.
Syphilis considerably favours the sexual transmission of HIV through the presence of syphilitic chancre (sore).
Mode of transmission. Syphilis can be contracted through physical contact with an infected person during sexual intercourse, whether oral, vaginal or anal. Transmission appears only if you have contact with the skin lesions and mucous membranes of syphilis in the primary and secondary phases.
These lesions are not always visible, and are filled with treponema bacteria. The germ enters the body of a sexual partner via broken skin or mucous membranes. At the point of entry, the germ multiplies and produces syphilis lesions and then it spreads throughout the body through the blood and lymphatic system.
Without treatment, the risk of transmission is very high during the first two stages of syphilis. Theoretically, untreated infected people can transmit the infection during the first and even the second year of infection, during which relapse with infectious lesions is possible.
Moreover, a person can have syphilis and not know it because he has no symptoms or they are very mild; it can, however, can be transmitted to others.
Primary syphilis: appearance of a painless lesion (sore) called a chancre located near or inside the vagina, penis, anus or mouth between 10 and 90 days after exposure. Usually single, although sometimes more may appear. If left untreated, it disappears by itself after a period ranging between three and six weeks, but syphilis can progress to the secondary stage.
Secondary syphilis: appearance of a rash (spots) on the soles of the feet and palms of the hands or other body parts two or three months after the initial contact. There may be other symptoms like fever, sore throat, swollen lymph nodes, sore joints and muscles, or irregular hair loss.
Symptoms may disappear without treatment within a few weeks. There may be episodes of relapse (i.e., repeated eruptions, malaise ...) during the first year and rarely after two years of infection.
For more information visit:
Syphilis
http://www.cdc.gov/std/syphilis/
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