Excerpted from "A Year of Health Hints"
365 Practical Ways to Feel Better and Live Longer
Syphilis is sometimes called "pox" or "bad
blood." Left untreated, syphilis is one of the most serious
sexually transmitted diseases, leading to heart failure,
blindness, insanity, or death. Syphilis can progress slowly,
through three stages, over a period of many years. When detected
early, however, syphilis can be cured. Be alert for the following
symptoms.
Primary Stage.
A large, painless ulcerlike sore known as a chancre occurs four
to six weeks after infection and generally appears around the
area of sexual contact. The chancre disappears within a few
weeks.
Secondary Stage.
Within a month after the end of the primary stage, a widespread
skin rash may appear, cropping up on the palms of the hands,
soles of the feet, and sometimes around the mouth and
nose.Swollen lymph nodes, fever, and flu-like symptoms may also
occur, and small patches of hair may fall out of the scalp,
beard, eyelashes, and eyebrows.
Latent Stage.
Once syphilis reaches this stage, it may go unnoticed for years,
quietly damaging the heart, central nervous system, muscles, and
various other organs, and tissues. The resulting effects are
often fatal.
If you've been exposed to syphilis or have its symptoms, see a
doctor or consult your county health department. For syphilis in
its early stages, treatment consists of a single injection of
long-lasting penicillin. If the disease has progressed further,
you'll require three consecutive weekly injections. (If you're
allergic to penicillin, you'll receive an alternative antibiotic,
taken orally for two to four weeks.) You should have a blood test
3, 6, and 12 months after treatment, to be sure the disease is
completely cured.
Once treatment is complete, you're no longer contagious. But
if syphilis is left untreated, you're contagious for up to one
year after you first contract the infection).