A Description of the Disease Syphilis (Essay Sample)

Syphilis
Name
Institution
Syphilis
Syphilis is a bacterial infection whose causative agent is Treponema pallidum. The sexually transmitted malady affects both men and women, with 36,000 Americans infected each year. Statistics indicate that the prevalence rate among women has declined but increased among men, in the United States. About 10 million annual infections around the globe are also reported (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014).
Syphilis manifests in the form of a painless chancre or sore on the genitalia or around the mouth and rectum. The main mode of transmission of the disease is via sexual contact, whether vaginal, anal or oral sex. It can also be disseminated through close body contact such as kissing through an active lesion in the mouth. Congenital syphilis is transmitted from a pregnant mother to an unborn child during pregnancy (Santis et al., 2012). It cannot be spread by sharing utensils, clothes, toilets, bathtubs, swimming pools, or surfaces such as doorknobs. Lack of treatment leads to stillbirths and birth defects such as blindness and damaged vital organs such as the brain, heart, and bones.
Various risk factors predispose individuals to syphilis. They include having multiple sex partners, having unprotected sex, engaging in gay or homosexual sex, and sharing sex toys. Syphilis is also associated with various complications if untreated. It causes problems in pregnancy and increases the risk of HIV infection. Small tumors or gummas normally occur in the bones, skin, liver and other organs during the late stages of the disease. The gummas often disappear when treated with antibiotics. Heart arteries and other blood vessels may also become inflamed and develop a bulge called an aneurysm (Shelton, 1996). Syphilis also causes neurological problems such as dementia, stroke, and meningitis. Both men and women present similar symptoms, which occur within 10 days and 3 months. However, the symptoms vary depending on the stage of the disease, since syphilis occurs in three main stages.
The first stage is distinguished by a painless chancre on the location through which the bacteria entered the body, about 21 days after infection. The sore is mainly found around the vulva, cervix and breasts in women, and penis in men. They also occur around the mouth and anus in both sexes. The sores are self-limiting and last between three and six weeks, but progress to the secondary stage if untreated. The secondary stage begins with a rash on any body part, between 3 and 6 weeks of infection. The contagious rash mainly occurs on the soles and palms. The sores appear as red and rough spots that mimic common skin diseases such as measles. Other prominent symptoms of this stage include swollen lymph glands, white patches on the roof of the mouth or tongue, loss of appetite, flu-like illness, malaise, moist warts on the anus in both sexes and vulva in women, headache, fever, and patchy hair loss. The symptoms often disappear even without treatment, but will recur for many years if untreated. Both the primary and secondary stages are infectious, but the second stage is the most infectious (Goh, 2005).
The lack of treatment for the first two stages causes the disease to progress to the latent or dormant stage, which occurs when the symptoms disappear. The disease goes into quiescence, and the patient does not present any symptoms, but the bacteria can still be detected in the body through blood tests. Patients cannot transmit the disease at this stage. The most dangerous is the late or tertiary stages, although only a few people get to this stage. The stage occurs 10 or 30 years after infection and it manifests in severe symptoms. At this stage, the disease causes dementia, paralysis, difficulty in muscle coordination, impotence, blindness, and deafness. If untreated, it can also damage internal organs such as heart, nerves, blood vessels, liver, and bones resulting in death (Shelton, 1996).
Syphilis is diagnosed through samples such as blood, cerebral spinal fluid, and fluid from the sores. Blood tests detect the presence of antibodies against the syphilis bacteria, which remain in the body for a long time after infection. Thus, doctors can identify current or past infections. Scrapings from sores during the primary and secondary stages can also be examined under a microscope to identify the presence of Treponema pallidum in the body. A sample of spinal fluid is necessary when there is suspicion of nervous complications caused by syphilis. A lumbar puncture is conducted to extract the fluid. Women are also examined to check for the presence of sores in the genitals. It is important that both sex partners are tested to diagnose for the disease and treatment offered in case of positive results. Individuals who test negative are advised to retest after 3 months since the immune system can take time to develop antibodies against the infection (Goh, 2005).
Syphilis is easily treated during the initial stages using penicillin, a broad-spectrum antibiotic. Patients intolerant to penicillin can use doxycycline, tetracycline or other antibiotics. A single dose of the antibiotics is sufficient during the initial stages, but infections in the later stages require administration of several doses. However, penicillin is the only recommended treatment for pregnant women, and allergic women are advised to undertake desensitization in order to enable them take the medication. Newborns should receive treatment for syphilis even though their mothers were treated for syphilis (Ghanem & Workowski, 2011). Patients undergoing treatment may experience an undesired effect known as a Jarisch - Herxheimer reaction, but it only lasts for a few hours. Headaches, fever, nausea, chills, and achy pains are the main ...