Syphilis

General Description

A painless chancre develops at the site of incubation after around 3 to 6 weeks. "The lesion has a punched-out base and rolled edges and is highly infectious."

Affected Population

People who are around the peak of sexual activity are commonly most affected. People most commonly affected are aged 35 to 39, and are more commonly men. In the United States, around 84% of the cases are housed in the south.

Prevalence: There are more than 12 million cases of syphilis worldwide. It is more common in Sub-Sahara Africa, South and Southeast Asia, Latin America and Caribbean. In the United States, the District of Columbia is number one for most syphilis cases with 95.3 per 100,000 people. Louisiana is second with 38.9 cases. The South harbors a little less than half of all cases of syphilis in the U.S. Also 75% of people affected in the U.S. are men who have sex with men.

Classification: Syphilis can affect either the nervous system (neurosyphilis) or the cardiovascular system (cardiovascular syphilis).

Mechanism of disease in acquired syphilis

Treponema Pallidum punctures mucous membranes or dermal abrasions and enters the blood and lymphatics to infect. The incubation period lasts from exposure to the appearance of the first lesions at the site of inoculation (this is from 10 to 90 days but generally around 3 weeks).

The central nervous system is invaded in the secondary stage. After the first 5-10 years without treatment, the disease involves the meninges and blood vessels. This turns into meningovascular neurosyphilis which can damage the parenchyma of the brain and spinal cord that ends up with parenchymatous neurosyphilis.

A plasma cell-rich infiltrate and endartitis are markings of syphilis. “Endarteritis is...

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...ches, nausea, or a rash. These symptoms are generally gone within one day.

Prognosis: After early diagnosis and full treatment, syphilis can be eradicated from the body. Secondary syphilis may take a few weeks to a year to be completely free the system. One third of the patients who receive no treatment get late syphilis, which may result in death.

Scientific Advancement:

Works Cited

Links: http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/229461-overview#a0104 Mechanism of disease, general description, affected population http://www.cdc.gov/std/stats06/tables/table25.htm Affected population, prevalence http://www.cdc.gov/std/syphilis/stdfact-syphilis.htm Symptoms http://www.webmd.com/sexual-conditions/guide/syphilis Symptoms http://www.webmd.com/sexual-conditions/syphilis-tests Diagnosis http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000861.htm Outcome, treatment