Syphilis is a serious chronic bacterial infection caused by the spirochete Treponema pallidum. Left untreated it may affect the brain, heart and other organs, ultimately leading to death. It is usually transmitted by direct sexual contact. The infection is often difficult to identify as the symptoms mimic other health conditions. The symptoms may include rashes, swollen lymph glands, fever, sores and muscle aches. Symptoms then disappear during a latent period that can last years. The final and most serious stage of the disease (more or less 10 years after infection) is characterized by: ulceration of skin, palate and bones, with scarring and disfigurement; involvement of the main blood vessel (aorta), leading to angina pectoris and serious or fatal heart disease; involvement of the nervous system, with resulting epileptic fits, insanity, blindness, deafness, unsteadiness in walking, crippling joint involvement, bladder disturbance, ulcers on the soles, and palsies. The disease also increases the likelihood of transmission of HIV. Syphilis during pregnancy may result in miscarriage, stillbirth, or an infant with congenital syphilis, who may develop deafness and blindness as well as mental retardation and other debilitating complications.
In poor communities, syphilis can be a non-venereal disease, transmitted by overcrowding and by the use of common eating and drinking vessels (nonvenereal treponematoses include Endemic syphilis, Yaws, Pinta, and Bejel and Njovera syphilis). As social conditions improve and the chances of non-venereal contact diminish, syphilis evolves into a venereal disease, although the persistence of unhygienic practices or deteriorating social conditions may result in mixed venereal and non-venereal syphilis. A community's syphilis rate is a key indicator of the quality of its public health service.
Until recently syphilis was thought to have been first contracted by explorers of the fifteenth century, who like Columbus and his men, were exposed to unknown afflictions of the New World. Syphilis was long believed to have become a European epidemic only around 1500, when explorers of the Americas returned home and consequently spread the disease. In 1992, however, archaeologists discovered the bones of ancient Greek skeletons in southern Italy, some of which may evidence the existence of syphilis in the Old World prior to the exploration of the New World. Thus, the history of syphilis may have until recently been camouflaged as a younger affliction originating in the Americas. There is further speculation that some of the cases of leprosy in mediaeval Europe may have actually been cases of syphilis, as several researchers question the reliability of mediaeval diagnoses.
If caught in its primary and secondary stages, syphilis can be cured with antibiotics. Tissue damage in the final stage of the disease is irreversible.
In the West, syphilis is now fairly uncommon and could be eradicated, with the number of new cases in the USA falling to its lowest level in 40 years in 1997. The US rate then was 10 times the Canadian rate of 0.4 cases per 100,000 people. The rate in US blacks was then 30 times the rate in US whites and on the rise among Hispanics. However, in 2016 there were still 28,000 new cases of syphilis, increasing by 18 percent in a single year. Women also experienced a 36 percent increase in the diagnosis of syphilis and there was a 28 percent increase in the number of newborns diagnosed.
Babies born with congenital syphilis may have deformed bones, anemia or neurological disorders, such as blindness or deafness. Nearly half of babies infected while in the womb will die before or shortly after birth. In 2016 in the USA, we are now seeing more cases of babies born with congenital syphilis than babies born with HIV.
High prevalence rates for early syphilis occur wherever there is social disruption and mass population movements, as in some parts of Southeast Asia and Africa. In developed countries, there has been a rise in the incidence of infectious syphilis. Congenital syphilis is still a serious disease resulting in foetal wastage, neonatal mortality and infant morbidity in countries where the services dealing with sexually transmitted diseases and with maternal and child health are poorly developed. A disconcertingly high prevalence of venereal syphilis has been observed as a consequence of the eradication of yaws in countries where syphilis control has not been carried out simultaneously.
Homosexual transmission is an epidemiological factor of increasing importance. In the USA the proportion of men with infectious syphilis who named other men as sexual partners has recently increased by almost 200% in cases of primary and secondary syphilis infections in males, and in Australia in 1973 homosexuals accounted for 73.2% of the total male cases. In the UK, the proportion of early syphilis cases which had been acquired as a result of homosexual activity increased from 42.4% in 1971 to 54% in 1977. This association between homosexuality and syphilis transmission appears to be more pronounced in developed countries, although some reports from developing countries – for example Sri Lanka and India – also make reference to the importance of homosexual transmission. The high infection and reinfection rates among homosexuals make this relatively small group an important reservoir of infection which may contribute significantly to the transmission of syphilis in the community at large. Syphilis and other sexually transmitted infections that cause genital ulcers facilitate the spread of HIV-virus through homosexual and heterosexual contact.