Syphilis is a highly contagious sexually transmitted disease that is mainly transmitted through sexual contact, including oral and anal sex. In some cases, infection through a kiss or even just close physical contact with a person with this disease is possible.
It has long been known that the disease "syphilis" is transmitted after direct contact with ulcers that appear as a result of it. But it is worth noting that most of these ulcers go unnoticed by humans.
Very often, a person already infected with this disease does not even imagine this. The worst thing is that due to such ignorance of his condition, he will unknowingly infect his sexual partner. And if there are several of them ... Can you imagine the scale of the problem?
In addition, infection can occur from mother to child. That is, if a pregnant woman is infected, while still in the womb, the fetus can also be infected. This form of syphilis is called congenital and in some cases leads to very serious defects in the development of the baby. Sometimes a child may not even survive.
Why does syphilis appear? It occurs due to the causative agent of the disease - pale treponema, originating from the genus of spirochetes.
How widespread is syphilis?
This sexually transmitted disease has a chronic course and often leads to severe complications. These include arthritis, brain damage, blindness, and more. Not so long ago, syphilis posed a huge danger to people around, because there was no reliable treatment.
This situation lasted until 1940, before the invention of an antibiotic called penicillin, which fought well with this disease.
Today, less and less people get syphilis. Although from time to time there are separate outbreaks of the disease.
Syphilis symptoms
This disease usually proceeds in three stages:
- Primary or early syphilis . During this period, skin ulcers characteristic of only this disease arise , which are called the βhard chancreβ. Such ulcers have a dense texture, almost do not hurt, and appear approximately 10-90 days after infection has occurred. If treatment is not carried out, syphilis will not go anywhere, although ulcers will pass in a month and a half (and on their own), without leaving any scars and scars.
- Secondary syphilis . This stage most often lasts from one to three months. Foci of a pinkish rash appear on the body. Its characteristic location is the soles of the legs and palms. In addition, moist warts located in the groin, white spots inside the oral cavity, an increase in the size of the lymph nodes, weight loss and fever may also appear. Like the primary stage, the secondary stage also goes away on its own without any treatment.
- Tertiary syphilis . Everything is different here: if this form is not started to be treated, serious complications may arise in the work of the brain and spinal cord, heart and nervous system. In addition, the third stage of syphilis can cause paralysis, blindness, deafness, dementia, impotence and, worst of all, death.
Separate latent (or latent) syphilis. This period is characterized by the absence of any symptoms.
How to treat syphilis?
If less than a year has passed since the moment you became infected, then a dose of penicillin is most likely enough to get rid of the disease. If you have an allergic reaction to this antibiotic, you can replace it with doxycycline or tetracycline.
When the syphilis disease has moved to a later stage, much larger doses of the medicine and a rather long period of time will be needed to cure it.