Syphilis is a bacterial infection caused by treponema palladium spirochete. This terrible affliction is primarily transmitted through sexual contact, resulting from having direct contact with the sores caused by the infection.



It can also be transmitted through other ways. Direct contact between a healthy individual and an infected individual's saliva will get the healthy person to contracting the disease. Any contact with any other body fluids such as seminal liquid, vaginal secretions of an infected individual will definitely lead to infection.

On the other hand, there are also non-sexual ways of transmitting the disease, such as biting, kissing or handling of contaminated instruments or things. However, sexual contact still remains to be the primary way of transferring the disease. Statistics show that the probability of contracting the disease after sexual contact with an infected partner is 30-50%. Even a single exposure to the bacteria will be an opportunity for it to start multiplying.

Syphilis normally starts off unnoticeably and then it progresses really slowly but definitely. If not attended to at its early stage, this extremely cruel disease could have terrible endings. At present, no transfusion can be done before all the blood and blood products have undergone rigid testing so that the risk of infection caused by blood transfusion should be nil. However, being over zealous about the test results will not hurt anyone.

Another means of infection transmission is from the mother to the newborn baby. If the pregnant woman is infected, then she could infect her baby. This is called congenital transmission.

The symptoms of this disease come in stages and appear in various ways depending on the length of time that has elapsed from the first exposure to the bacteria. There are various phases in its evolution and it progresses unfavourably along the years.

The growth period of the bacteria starts from the first day ox exposure to as long as 90 days. Generally, there will be no biological or medical manifestations of the disease within this period.

As the patient unfavourably progresses to the second phase of the infection, all primary symptoms of the disease will disappear. It is during this stage, that the patient will become most contagious because all the bodily fluids like the blood, saliva, vaginal secretions, and seminal fluid, among others will be packed with active treponema organisms.

A blood test procedure will show if a person is infected or not and could be a factor in tracing the bacteria. The ultimate diagnosis will be done through microscopy to analyze the fluids coming from the primary or secondary wounds and other serological tests.

Syphilis can be cured as long as the treatment starts right after the exposure. Antibiotics are usually recommended but if the treatment starts when the disease has evolved, there may be permanent damage to the affected organs.