Diseases and infections are common these days, especially with so many virus and bacterial infections around us, it becomes hard to determine severity of a disease. Sexually transmitted diseases are also on the rise, especially affecting more often these days. Syphilis is also one such infection which is spread through sexual transmission. It is a bacterial infection which has previously affected a lot of people. This infection may create a number of problems and can be problematic in a number of ways. Let us look at the rate of infection, its severity, symptoms and causes of transmission in detail.
What is Syphilis?
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease which can affect different places in your body. According to expert Dr. Arun Goyala, Consultant and General Physician in Ivory Hospital, Greater Noida, this is a bacterial infection which affects people in form of sores. This sore is initially small and does not cause much pain, but with time they become painful are starts affecting your daily activities. Syphilis infection occurs in organs such as rectum, sexual organs, on the back and inside the mouth as well. It looks like an ordinary sore initially, but it grows out to be quite problematic at times.
How Does Syphilis Spread?
Unfortunately this is the only sexually transmitted disease that can spread with being in mere contact with the person. It spreads through direct contact with syphilitic chancres and can cause severe complication. The modes of transmission can be the following-
- Sharing of toilet seat, or using the same washroom
- Wearing another person’s clothes
- Using or eating in the same utensils as others
- Kissing an infected person
- Giving hug to another person
- Being physically active with the infected person
Stages of Syphilis Infection
There are basically four stages on infection in which syphilis can infect you. These stages depend in the severity of the person. Syphilis is actually more infectious in first two stages in this condition.
- Primary Stage
- Secondary stage
- Latent stage
- Tertiary stage
Among these four stages, the syphilis infections are most prominent in tertiary stage. In the hidden stage, as the name, suggests, this bacterial infection remains hidden. Tertiary syphilis needs immediate medical attention.
1. Primary Syphilis
In this stage the person gets infected with the bacteria through the person’s contact. It could be potentially harmful because the symptoms are not evident for around 4 weeks. Hence it might be difficult to differentiate the symptoms in this stage. In primary syphilis infection, the bacteria begin to infect certain sections of the body. The sore appears when the bacteria has entered the body and affected, mouth or genital sections, etc.
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This stage is from transmission to three weeks of infection. However in some cases this can go longer upto 90 days for symptoms to be visible. The sore takes around 6 weeks to appear in general. It also depends in the modes of transmission. If it has transferred during sexual activity, then it may occur faster.
2. Secondary Syphilis
In the second stage of syphilis, sores and rashes start to develop on different parts of the body. The rashes do not create itch and it usually happens over palms and soles. It is in this period it goes on affecting back, palms and other parts of the body as well. Along with the second stage of syphilis infection, you may also get these symptoms-
- Fever
- Headaches
- Swollen lymph nosed
- Fatigue
- Sudden Weight loss
- Hair loss
- Aching joints
In some cases, doctor says, that people often mistake this disease as some skin condition and get the wrong treatment. This is because it becomes very similar to other skin infection which happens on body.
Latent Syphilis
In the third stage of syphilis bacterial infection, the symptoms become hidden. Mind you, they do not go away, nor does the infection get cured, it is just not visible to you. Latent syphilis is the condition where you won’t notice probable symptoms of syphilis. This is because bacteria remain in the body but the infection grows inside the body instead of occurring on the skin. This is the stage of caution because the person goes straight to tertiary stage which is far more problematic.
Tertiary Syphilis
This is the last and the most severe stage of having syphilis infection. This is because, till this period, the infection has already spread to all probable parts, around 15-30 percent of the body. If you have not started treatment of this bacterial infection, then there are chances of complications. Tertiary syphilis can after years after the time of real infection. In most cases people think that it is long gone or healed but it grows infection again. It could be very severe and cause the following health problems-
- Deafness
- Mental illness
- Blindness
- Damage to soft tissues and bones in the body
- Neurological disorders
- Memory loss
- High risk of health diseases
- Neuro-syphilis in which the infection reaches the brain or spinal cord and creates permanent damage to the body
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