Syphallis

Biological Mechanisms

Transmission: Syphilis is transmitted from person to person by direct contact with a syphilitic sore, known as a chancre. Although syphilis can be spread by passage through the birth placenta (congenital syphilis), by kissing or other close contact with an active lesion, transfusion of fresh human blood, or by direct inoculation, the vast majority of cases are transmitted by sexual contact.

Infection begins when T. pallidum penetrates the host, usually through intact or abraded mucous membranes with an infectious inoculum of as little as four spirochetes. The incubation period is directly proportional to the size of the inoculum.

Early disease, spirochetes can be found in the chancre, then continue to invade into the bloodstream. All organs of the body can be invaded but the skin, lymph nodes, and the central nervous system are most often invaded. Late stage disease is most often manifested by invasion of the vasa vasorum of the aorta and/or the arteries.

Persons are most infectious early in disease when a chancre or mucous patch is present and by 4 years after acquiring the disease. Reinfection is possible and not uncommon.

Treatment: Although it was one of the first infections to be treated successfully with antibiotics, debate remains with regards to what constitutes optimal treatment due to the inability to culture Treponema pallidum. This requirement has made it extremely difficult to correlate clinical signs and symptoms with the presence or absence of replicating spirochete or perform antimicrobial susceptibility testing. This has forced clinicians to rely on imperfect serological tests to diagnose syphilis and gage the effectiveness of therapy.

In the case of many infections, a natural immune response can clear T. pallidum independent of antibiotic usage. On the other hand, in states of immune impairment such as in HIV/AIDS, antibiotics may fail to eradicate T. pallidum. Although antibiotics treatment with Benzathine penicillin G a can “cure” syphilis in it’s early stages including primary, secondary or ealy latent syphilis it cannot be guaranteed.

No vaccines are currently available.

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease caused by a thin, tightly coiled spirochete, Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum. It cannot be grown on standard culture media.

Potential virulence factors which account for T. pallidum's ability to cause disease include several hemolysins, a membrane protein that accounts for permeability of nutrients but is inaccessible to antibody, and ligands that account for adhesion properties.

Historical Discovery: The causative organism, Treponema pallidum, was first identified by Fritz Schaudinn and Erich Hoffmann in 1905. The first effective treatment, the Salvarsan compound, was developed in 1910 in the laboratory of Paul Ehrlich which was followed by the introduction of penicillin in 1943.

Research

Tuskegee Study on Untreated Syphilis

Seralogical treatment of Syphilis

• United States Public Health Services
• Intended to observe the natural progression of syphilis
• 600 black men- mostly poor sharecroppers
• Penicillen was withheld when it became the standard treatment

• Institute for Global Health and Infectious Disease
• Meta analysis of seralogical treatment
• Points to further reasearch:
• Determine the clinical significance of persistant nontreponemal antibody titers after therapy

Clinical features and incidence rates of ocular complications in patients with ocular syphilis.

• Aimed to describe the outcomes of ocular syphilis
• Retrospective chart analysis
• Syphilis can cause ocular inflammation
• Delay of diagnosis was associated with loss of vision

Treatment and Prevention

Societal

Highlights

• More than 12 million Americans, 3 million of whom are teenagers, are infected with STDs each year.

• Since 1980, eight new sexually transmitted pathogens have been recognized in the United States.

• Every year, approximately $10 billion is spent on major STDs other than AIDS and their preventable complications. This cost is shared by all Americans.

• Syphilis is very curable, especially during the early stages. However, if one lets the disease progress too far, the results will be irreversable.

• People who have contracted syphilis can be treated with an injection of Benzathine Penacillin G, however, there are many ways to prevent syphilis so that one would never have to contract it in the first place:

Psychological

Effects

Discovery

• mental health || STDs

• "suffering in silence", shame

• syphilis

• STDs have been known to mankind for centuries. Before the advent of modern medicine, People's lack of awareness and understanding of STDs contributed to the widespread transmission of the infections while few or no treatments were available to treat the conditions.

• In medieval times, syphilis and gonorrhoea were two of the most prevalent STDs in Europe. One theory suggest that syphilis was spread by crew members who picked up the disease on the voyages led by Christopher Columbus. They are thought to have contracted syphilis while in the Americas and to have then spread it on their return when docking at ports in Europe. Sailors are also thought to be responsible for the spread of gonorrhoea from Tahiti to New Zealand during the Cook voyages.

• first stages: physical symptoms
• late stages: dementia

• Before getting intimate with someone, get tested, especially if you are not relying on condoms as your form of birth control. Use a condom to cover the syphilis sores if they test positive for syphilis, or abstain from sex if that is more comfortable for you!

Bibiliography

CDC. "Syphilis Treatment and Care." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 03 Dec. 2015. Web. 26 Jan. 2016.

Physical Symptoms: Physical Effects on The Individual

CDC. "Syphilis Treatment and Care." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 03 Dec. 2015. Web. 26 Jan. 2016.

http://www.takepart.com/article/2013/04/26/stds-mental-health-and-depression

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/118/1/189?sso=1&sso_redirect_count=1&nfstatus=401&nftoken=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000&nfstatusdescription=ERROR%3a+No+local+token

• Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease that doesn't necessarily start to display symptoms until 21 days after infection---and even them, there are different stages of syphillis, each that have different and incresingly severe symptoms:

• Primary Stage: The appearance of a single, round and painless sore at the area where syphilis enters the body marks the primary stage of syphilis. The disease is very treatable at this point.

Eng, Thomas R., and William T. Butler. "THE NEGLECTED HEALTH AND ECONOMIC IMPACT OF STDs." The Hidden Epidemic: Confronting Sexually Transmitted Diseases. Washington, D.C.: National Academy, 1997. N. pag. Print.

• Secondary Stage: if one does not treat syphilis and the primary stage, it will progress to the secondary stage, where the infected person will develop white, raised lesions in the vagina, anus, and mouth, as well as a not very itchy rash.

"History of Sexually Transmitted Disease." News-Medical.net. N.p., 08 Feb. 2010. Web. 26 Jan. 2016.

• Late and Latent Stages: These are the most serious/deadly stages of syphilis that occur after the secondary symptoms disappear untreated. The symptoms of these stages can develop years after one first quires syphilis, and can include uncoordinated muscle movenments, gradual blindness, paralysis and dementia,

Syphilis can make it easier to contract HIV and can invade the neurosystem and cause parkinson's-like behavior.

Fantry, Lori E., MD, MPH, and Edmund C. Tramont, M.D., M.A.C.P. "Treponema Pallidum (Syphilis)." Infectious Disease and Antimicrobial Agents. Web. 26 Jan. 2016.

Tampa, M., I. Sarbu, C. Matei, V. Benea, and SR Georgescu. "Brief History of Syphilis." Journal of Medicine and Life. Carol Davila University Press, 25 Mar. 2014. Web. 26 Jan. 2016.

Seña, Arlene C. "Http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=6&amp;sid=553273f7-b6c9-47c4-ab47-3c818bd4079c%40sessionmgr110&amp;hid=120&amp;bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#AN=110700886&amp;db=aph." <i>BMC Infectious Diseases</i> 15 (2015): 1-15. <i>Bard Stevenson Library</i>. Web. 26 Jan. 2016.

"About Us." <i>About the USPHS Syphilis Study</i>. Tuskegee University, n.d. Web. 26 Jan. 2016.

A CDC PSA: Syphilis

All you need to know about this STD's symptoms, psychological effects, and biological mechanisms