Embarrassing Illnesses

Syphilis is a bacterial infection that is typically passed through sexual contact. However, it can be passed on by intravenous drug use (injecting drugs directly into the vein), blood transfusions and from an infected mother to her unborn child. The latter is known as congenital syphilis.

Syphilis cannot be caught through casual contact, such as toilet seats or sharing cutlery.

The condition can be particularly dangerous because it lies dormant (after some initial symptoms) for many years and can recur, causing serious damage to the:

• heart,
• nervous system,
• eyes,
• brain, and,
• almost every other part of the body.

Symptoms of syphilis begin with one or more painless, but highly infectious, sores on the skin known as chancres. If somebody else comes into close contact with these chancres, which typically happens during sexual contact, then they can also catch the condition. This stage of the condition is known as primary syphilis.

Secondary symptoms develop two to 10 weeks after the appearance of the chancre. Symptoms include:

• a skin rash,
• sore throat,
• tiredness, and,
• a headache.

This stage of the condition is known as secondary syphilis. The symptoms then disappear, even without treatment.

However, syphilis may return many years later, and the infection can cause serious damage to the body, including organ damage and death. This last, most deadly, stage of the condition is known as late or tertiary syphilis.

Syphilis can be successfully treated with antibiotics.

Syphilis used to be relatively common in the UK until the end of the Second World War. Then the widespread availability of antibiotics meant that the condition became quite rare.

However, in recent years, the number of people syphilis has increased. There were 2,766 reported cases in the UK during 2006.

Syphilis is more common in men than women, and rates are highest among gay men.

Catching syphilis increases your chances of catching HIV. Also, HIV will alter the typical course of syphilis, increasing the chances of it progressing to tertiary syphilis.