Syphilis (Print Version)

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease caused by bacteria. It infects the genital area, lips, mouth, or anus of both men and women. You usually get syphilis from sexual contact with someone who has it. It can also pass from mother to baby during pregnancy.

The early stage of syphilis usually causes a single, small, painless sore. Sometimes it causes swelling in nearby lymph nodes. If you do not treat it, syphilis usually causes a non-itchy skin rash, often on your hands and feet. Many people do not notice symptoms for years. Symptoms can go away and come back.

The sores caused by syphilis make it easier to get or give someone HIV during sex. If you are pregnant, syphilis can cause birth defects, or you could lose your baby. In rare cases, syphilis causes serious health problems and even death.

Syphilis is easy to cure with antibiotics if you catch it early. Correct usage of latex condoms greatly reduces, but does not completely eliminate, the risk of catching or spreading syphilis.

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Start Here

Syphilis(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - http://www.cdc.gov/std/Syphilis/STDFact-Syphilis.htm
Also available in Spanish http://www.cdc.gov/std/Spanish/STDFact-Syphilis-s.htm
Syphilis(National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) - http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/topics/syphilis/

Overviews

JAMA Patient Page: Syphilis(American Medical Association) - Links to PDF - http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/reprint/301/7/792.pdf
Syphilis(Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) - http://www.mayoclinic.com/print/syphilis/DS00374/DSECTION=all&METHOD=print
Syphilis: Questions & Answers(American Social Health Association) - http://www.ashastd.org/learn/learn_syphilis.cfm

Diagnosis/Symptoms

Syphilis Test(American Association for Clinical Chemistry) - http://www.labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/syphilis/test.html

Prevention/Screening

How to Use a Condom(American Social Health Association) - http://www.ashastd.org/condom/condom_overview.cfm

Specific Conditions

Tabes Dorsalis(National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke) - Short Summary - http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/tabes_dorsalis/tabes_dorsalis.htm

Pictures & Photographs

Primary Syphilis(Logical Images) - http://www.visualdxhealth.com/adult/primarySyphilis.htm

Clinical Trials

ClinicalTrials.gov: Syphilis(National Institutes of Health) - http://clinicaltrials.gov/search/open/condition=%22Syphilis%22

Journal Articles

References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

Article: Exploring the "legacy" of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study: a follow-up... - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=19378637&tool=MedlinePlus
Article: Male circumcision for the prevention of HSV-2 and HPV infections... - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=19321868&tool=MedlinePlus
Article: JAMA patient page. Syphilis. - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=19224758&tool=MedlinePlus
Syphilis -- see more articles - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=search&db=pubmed&term=syphilis[majr]+AND+humans[mh]+AND+english[la]+AND+(patient+education+handout[pt]+OR+jsubsetk[text]+OR+jsubsetn[text]+OR+jsubsetaim[text]+OR+guideline[pt]+OR+clinical+trial[pt])+NOT+(letter[pt]+OR+editorial[pt])&doptcmdl=summary&cmd_current=Limits&pmfilter_EDatLimit=last+1+Year&tool=MedlinePlus

Medical Encyclopedia

Syphilis - http://vsearch.nlm.nih.gov/vivisimo/cgi-bin/query-meta?v:project=medlineplus&binning-state=group%3d%3dMedical%20Encyclopedia&query=Syphilis

Dictionaries/Glossaries

Sexual Health Glossary(American Social Health Association) - http://www.ashastd.org/learn/learn_glossary_A_D.cfm

Organizations

American Social Health Association - http://www.ashastd.org/
National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, Division of STD Prevention(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - http://www.cdc.gov/std/
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases - http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/

Law and Policy

National Plan to Eliminate Syphilis from the United States: Executive Summary(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - http://www.cdc.gov/stopsyphilis/SEEexec2006.htm

Statistics

FastStats: Sexually Transmitted Diseases/STD(National Center for Health Statistics) - http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/stds.htm
Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance 2007: Syphilis(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - http://www.cdc.gov/std/stats07/syphilis.htm
Syphilis Surveillance Project Annual Report(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - http://www.cdc.gov/std/Syphilis2005/default.htm

Children

Other In Utero TORCH Infections(Children's Hospital Boston) - http://www.childrenshospital.org/az/Site474/mainpageS474P0.html
Syphilis(Nemours Foundation) - http://kidshealth.org/parent/infections/bacterial_viral/syphilis.html

Teenagers

Syphilis(Nemours Foundation) - http://kidshealth.org/teen/infections/stds/std_syphilis.html

Men

Syphilis and MSM (Men Who Have Sex with Men)(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - http://www.cdc.gov/std/syphilis/STDFact-MSM&Syphilis.htm
Also available in Spanish http://www.cdc.gov/std/Spanish/STDFact-MSM&Syphilis-s.htm

Women

Syphilis(National Women's Health Information Center) - http://womenshealth.gov/faq/syphilis.cfm

You may also be interested in these MedlinePlus related pages:

Sexually Transmitted Diseases - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/sexuallytransmitteddiseases.html
Female Reproductive System - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/femalereproductivesystem.html
Infections - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/infections.html
Male Reproductive System - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/malereproductivesystem.html
Sexual Health Issues - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/sexualhealthissues.html

The primary NIH organization for research on Syphilis is the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases - http://www.niaid.nih.gov/