Before AIDS, syphilis was the most severe sexually transmitted disease. The causative agent of the disease - the well-known pale treponema - was discovered back in 1905. The bacterium got its name for a rare property - the inability to be colored with aniline dyes. The bacterial form is spiral, resembling a corkscrew.
A pale spirochete under adverse conditions that can create for it, for example, antibiotics, is covered with a membrane and “falls asleep”, thereby protecting itself from all factors from the outside. Treponema "wakes up" after the course of treatment, thereby letting you know that it is too early to talk about the victory over the disease.
The causative agent can penetrate the human body through microscopic cracks and cuts that are not even visible to the naked eye. In the vast majority of cases, the disease is sexually transmitted, but other ways of transmitting the infection are possible.
Symptoms of the disease
Syphilis for a long time may not show any symptoms at all, but only develop slowly and imperceptibly inside the body. The primary sign of beginning syphilis can be called a rash that appears on the skin as periods . After the rash, the disease does not appear immediately, but only after a few weeks, giving time for the spread of bacteria along with lymph and blood throughout the body.
When the disease begins to manifest its first serious symptoms, the patient develops syphilitic chancres, which occur exclusively at the site of infection. Syphilitic chancres are small erosions or sores on the patient’s body.
Primary syphilis
Syphilitic chancres most often appear on the genitals of patients, because it is in these places that the infection is transmitted from one partner to another. Chancre in men most often happens on the head or foreskin of the penis, much less often on the trunk of the penis itself. In homosexuals with syphilis, chancre can be observed on the anus or in the folds that form the anus. Syphilitic chancres in women are located on the large and small labia, on the perineum or at the entrance to the vagina, there are cases of the appearance of chancres and on the cervix.
In fact, syphilitic chancres can occur in any part of the body - from the mouth to the skin. There are cases when chancres occur on the tonsils, in which case the disease becomes very similar to a sore throat. However, the throat practically does not hurt, and the temperature remains within the normal range.
Secondary syphilis
Secondary syphilis is characterized by a small rash throughout the body, with the rash of which the body temperature rises noticeably, and the patient's general well-being worsens noticeably. The rash is of two types and in the first case does not cause the patient any discomfort, so he may not even notice it, in addition, even a doctor, if he could not detect the chancre during examination, may well confuse this rash with rubella or measles. In the second case, the rash manifests itself in small pustules, similar to similar rashes with smallpox. These pustules also do not hurt at all and do not manifest themselves at all.
Tertiary syphilis
During the third stage, large nodes begin to appear on the patient’s skin, the sizes of which can reach walnuts, and in other cases chicken eggs. These nodes are called gummas. Gummas appear singly, but they are accompanied by smaller tubercles, which most often occur in large groups. Such gummas can penetrate into any tissue, causing their destruction. For example, everyone knows such a symptom as “syphilitic nose” - in this case, gum grows through the skin to the nasal cartilage and destroys it, creating an impression.
In addition, syphilis often also affects the internal organs of patients, sometimes destroying vital signs. If syphilis does not begin to be treated in the early stages of its occurrence, then it will be quite difficult to stop the growing infection.