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Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection (STI) caused by a bacteria. It is less common than other STIs but is on the rise. It develops in three stages but can be cured if treated early.
Syphilis symptoms are usually mild which may lead to some people ignoring them. The symptoms are similar for people with penises and people with vaginas and develop in three stages:
The first symptom is a small painless sore (called a chancre). The chancre (it is usually just one) will normally appear on the area where the infection entered the body, so the vagina, penis or anus. Sometimes the chancre may appear on your lips, tonsils, hands or bottom.
This sore can take three weeks or more to appear after being exposed to the bacteria and usually heals and disappears after two to six weeks. If it’s painless and in an area you can’t see, the sore is easily missed.
The sore is painless but highly infectious so syphilis can be passed onto other people at this stage.
If left untreated the bacteria can spread to other parts of the body and the infection moves onto the second stage.
Symptoms for this stage may appear up to three months later than when you had the sore. Syphilis is still infectious at this stage and can be passed on.
Symptoms may include:
These symptoms may disappear after a few weeks or can come and go over a period of weeks or months. When the symptoms have disappeared you move into the latent (hidden) phase. This stage can last for years.
If syphilis is not treated it will then move onto its third stage.
It is rare to reach this stage in the UK and of those that do; only a third will experience serious symptoms.
This stage will begin years or even decades after the first infection and the symptoms will depend on where the infection has spread to. Tertiary stage syphilis can cause life-threatening problems such as brain and heart problems.
Syphilis is caused by bacteria called Treponema pallidum and is easily passed from one person to another through:
Syphilis can also be passed from a parent to their unborn baby but it can be treated during pregnancy. All pregnant people are offered a test to check if they have syphilis.
Important
Unless someone with syphilis is treated, they can pass syphilis on for up to two years after the infection.
It can take up to three months for syphilis to show up on a test. If you don’t have symptoms of syphilis you can order a test online to complete at home in most areas. This is usually provided by your nearest sexual health service. In some locations you can order a free HIV and syphilis test from freetesting.hiv.
The test you complete at home usually involves collecting a small blood sample in a test tube using a finger prick. Once complete, you then send it back in the post.
It is also possible to buy syphilis self-tests to do at home.
Cervical smear tests and routine blood tests will not detect syphilis.
If you have syphilis symptoms (or symptoms of any STI) then it’s important you go to your nearest sexual health service as soon as possible. Testing is free and you can get tested at some Brook services, GUM or sexual health clinics, or at some GP surgeries.
You will be advised to repeat the blood test after three months. This is because a positive result may detect antibodies from a previous episode that was successfully treated (and therefore you may actually be not have syphilis anymore) and when you do in fact have syphilis, you can get a negative result at first because the antibodies may not be detectable for the first three months after infection.
Syphilis is usually treated with antibiotics. The timeframe of your treatment will depend on the stage of syphilis.
If you had symptoms, you should notice improvements quite quickly. You should go back to where you had your test if:
Don’t pass it on
You should avoid having vaginal, anal or oral sex and any skin contact until at least two weeks after you have finished treatment to prevent you being re-infected or passing the infection on.
Telling sexual partners
It is important that you tell any recent sexual partners (in the last six months) that you are being treated for syphilis, so that they go for treatment too.
Some clinics may also offer to contact your partner using a partner notification service such as SXT. This is to inform them they may have been exposed and to recommend they get tested, but it doesn’t mention your name.
Yes, syphilis is curable with early treatment of antibiotics. But antibiotics cannot reverse any damage that has been caused to the body by the infection.
Syphilis can be passed from one person to another through unprotected sex (anal, vaginal and oral sex without a condom), sharing sex toys, sharing needles or touching sores caused by syphilis on another person.
How long it takes to cure syphilis depends on what stage of syphilis you have. There are three stages, syphilis in the tertiary stage will likely need a longer dose of treatment compared to at the primary stage.
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