Syphilis is commonly transmitted through sexual contact with an infected person. Still, one can get it from other means such as kissing or biting or by being in contact with objects or items that have been contaminated.



Having any form of contact with body fluids from an infected person will put the individual in the same high risk of infection. Contaminated body fluids like blood, seminal and vaginal secretions, and saliva are excellent media for bacteria transmission. Mothers can transmit the disease to their babies.

Nothing seems to be amiss in the body right after the exposure. At the start, the bacteria will maintain a very low profile and symptoms will not be apparent. However, if not immediately treated, it will start its slow but painful development that can have a hideous and tragic ending.

The first indication of syphilis infection is the appearance of one skin lesion. It could be round or oblong in shape, firm and painless. Swelling of the lymph glands could also be a sign of infection. Additionally, here will be swelling in the penis, vulva, and anal area.

During the secondary phase of the syphilis, other characteristic manifestations take place. It is the eruption on the skin at the skinlevel, which spreads all over the body. Small red blisters form on the skin, meaning around the mouth area, on the palms of the hand or on the foot sole. These symptoms will disappear even without treatment but the infection will not. The infected individual may ignore or not pay attention to the symptoms mentioned above but the infection will stay inside the organism and will evolve surely and slowly.

Primary and secondary symptoms of the syphilis infection can disappear even without treatment but that does not mean that the infection is gone as well. The bacteria will stay in the body for many years continuously developing towards the next stage. Incubation period alone already takes up to 90 days without any apparent symptoms. The primary and the secondary stages are the "easy" stages but it ushers in a long and painful journey towards the latent phase of the disease.

The latency state can take several years and the symptoms are not present in any way. Depending on the individual, the "late syphilis period" starts after five to twenty years from the contaminating contact, weather it was of sexual nature or not. The pathogen agent invades the organism, and the destructions will be visible at all the levels of the organism. The heart, the bones, internal organs, nervous system, they will all be affected by the bacteria.