Syphilis - Must Be Treated Early To Prevent Long Term Problems

Syphilis is an infection as old as the world itself. This disease has taken the lives of people hundreds of years ago, and yet it persists to endanger our lives to this very day. Unawareness and lack of interest are the factors that have kept this disease alive.

Syphilitic infection is of bacterial origin. Bacteria named Treponema Pallidum produce it. About this nasty infection, a few things. First, you should know that the most common transmission way is by sexual contact. Direct contact with the lesions produced by the infection during sexual contact is the main cause.

It can also be spread through other means. One of them is having direct contact with an infected individual’s saliva and other body fluids, such as semen and vaginal secretions.

Nevertheless, there is a nonsexual way of contracting the disease, as it spreads through biting, kisses, or through contaminated instruments or items of any kind. The transmission probability is high, as the statistics show that the contamination risk after having sexual contact with an infected person is as high as 30-50% . One single touch and the bacteria could be spreading.

If we may say so, the debut of the disease is very “discreet”, and it has a slow but certain evolution. If left untreated, this awful disease can have dramatic endings of the evolution. Nowadays, the blood is tested before any blood transfusion of any kind. That means that the risk of infection through blood transfusion should be zero. However, it never hurts to be extra attentive, does it?

Another way of non-sexual transmission of this disease is through congenital transmission wherein the mother transmits the bacteria to her newborn baby.

The symptoms of this disease come in stages and appear in various ways depending on the length of time that has elapsed from the first exposure to the bacteria. There are various phases in its evolution and it progresses unfavourably along the years.

During the development period of the bacteria, which starts from the period of the first exposure, no conceivable clinical or biological symptoms appear. For syphilitic infection, the growth period can go for as long as 90 days.

As the patient unfavourably progresses to the second phase of the infection, all primary symptoms of the disease will disappear. It is during this stage, that the patient will become most contagious because all the bodily fluids like the blood, saliva, vaginal secretions, and seminal fluid, among others will be packed with active treponema organisms.

To determine if the person is infected or not, a blood test has to be conducted and this could also aid in tracing the bacteria. Finally, a microscopic analysis of the fluid from the primary or secondary lesions can diagnose the disease accurately.

Syphilis can be cured as long as the treatment starts right after the exposure. Antibiotics are usually recommended but if the treatment starts when the disease has evolved, there may be permanent damage to the affected organs.

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