General paresis

Injury	Disease	Nutrition	Poison

Symptoms	Surgery	Test	Special Topic

Central nervous system

General paresis

Symptoms:

Seizures
Loss of short-term memory (recent events)
Loss of long-term memory (long-past events)
Impaired judgment
Decreased language ability (aphasia)
Loss of ability to calculate
Personality changes
- Inappropriate moods
- No mood exhibited
- Irritable, angry
- Delusions, hallucinations
Decreased motivation, apathy
Muscle weakness (difficulty using legs, arms, or other parts of the body)

Signs and tests:

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An eye examination may indicate a change in pupil response. A neurologic and muscular examination indicates slowly progressive dementia, with loss of multiple brain functions. Muscle weakness may be evident. There may be a loss of vibratory and position sense. Gait disturbances are common. The person may be unable to stand with the eyes closed (Romberg test).

Blood tests to detect syphilis in the body include:

Tests to evaluate the nervous system may include:

A CSF (cerebrospinal fluid) examination with abnormal results (positive VDRL or FTA-ABS test of CSF confirming neurosyphilis)
A head CT scan
Nerve conduction tests