Table of Contents
- Overview
- Symptoms
- Treatment
- Prevention
- Images
Primary syphilis; Secondary syphilis; Late syphilis; Tertiary syphilis
Treatment
Syphilis can be treated with antibiotics, such as penicillin G benzathine, doxycycline, or tetracycline (for patients who are allergic to penicillin). Length of treatment depends on how severe the syphilis is, and factors such as the patient's overall health.
For treating syphilis during pregnancy, penicillin is the drug of choice. Tetracycline cannot be used because it is dangerous to the unborn baby. Erythromycin may not prevent congenital syphilis in the baby. People who are allergic to penicillin should ideally be desensitized to it, and then treated with penicillin.
Several hours after getting treatment for the early stages of syphilis, people may experience Jarish-Herxheimer reaction. This is caused by an immune reaction to the breakdown products of the infection.
Symptoms and signs of this reaction include:
- Chills
- Fever
- General feeling of being ill (
malaise ) - Headache
- Joint aches
- Muscle aches
- Nausea
- Rash
These symptoms usually disappear within 24 hours.
Follow-up blood tests must be done at 3, 6, 12, and 24 months to ensure that the infection is gone. Avoid sexual contact when the chancre is present, and use condoms until two follow-up tests have indicated that the infection has been cured.
All sexual partners of the person with syphilis should also be treated. Syphilis is extremely contagious in the primary and secondary stages.
Support Groups
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Review Date: 08/30/2010
Reviewed By: Linda Vorvick, MD, Medical Director, MEDEX Northwest Division of
Physician Assistant Studies, University of Washington School of
Medicine; and Jatin M. Vyas, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor in
Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Assistant in Medicine, Division
of Infectious Disease, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts
General Hospital. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical
Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.
A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org)
