Symptoms of Syphilis in Females

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Stages and Symptoms of Syphilis in Women

Long-Term Effects of Untreated Syphilis in Women:

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease with various clinical manifestations, including primary syphilis, secondary syphilis, latent syphilis, late or tertiary syphilis, and neurosyphilis. Diagnosis involves skin lesions, nontreponemal tests, and confirmation tests. Treponema pallidum is a spirochete that causes syphilis, a bacterial infection that affects the entire body. Owing to its diverse range of clinical symptoms, it has earned the name “great imitator and mimicker.” Many hypotheses have been put up on the origin of syphilis, which has been a contentious and hotly debated topic.

Etiology

Treponema pallidum is the bacteria that causes syphilis, when this bacterium enters damaged skin or mucous membranes, commonly in the genitalia, it causes infection. Sexual contact is the most common method that syphilis is spread, though there are other ways as well.

Stages and Symptoms of Syphilis in Women

1-Stages:

Primary syphilis:

Two to three weeks of incubation (range: 9 to 90 days), local infection

Secondary syphilis:

6–12 weeks of incubation (range: 1–6 months); widespread infection

Latent early syphilis

Syphilis with no symptoms for less than two years

Late latent syphilis:

Asymptomatic syphilis lasting more than two years.

Tertiary syphilis, or late-symptomatic syphilis

Gummatous syphilis, neurosyphilis, and cardiovascular syphilis

The most common sign of primary syphilis is a single, painless chancre that appears at the infection site three weeks on average after T. pallidum exposure.

Secondary syphilis, which involves a wide range of clinical symptoms, is the result of T. pallidum spreading through the bloodstream throughout the following weeks to months if therapy is not received. Fever, lymphadenopathy, widespread rash, and genital or perineal condyloma latum are the most typical symptoms.

Skin lesions go away, and individuals are asymptomatic during the latent stage of syphilis. Serologic tests, however, show that T. pallidum is present.

Any organ system may be affected by tertiary or late syphilis, which manifests years after the original infection. Neurosyphilis and involvement of the aortic valve and root are the most feared consequences.

Long-Term Effects of Untreated Syphilis in Women:

Irreversible neurological and cardiovascular problems might result from an untreated syphilis infection. In early neurosyphilis, symptoms may include meningitis, stroke, and cranial nerve palsies; in late neurosyphilis, symptoms may include dementia, general paresis, and tabes dorsalis.

Tertiary syphilis can also cause cardiovascular syphilis, which can show up as carotid ostial stenosis, aortitis, aortic regurgitation, or granulomatosis lesions (gummas) in different body organs.

If not detected and treated right away, primary and secondary syphilis during pregnancy can result in congenital syphilis infections in the newborn and poor pregnancy outcomes.

Treatment

Syphilis can be treated with antibiotics like penicillin G, benzathine, and doxycycline, depending on severity and health. Pregnant women should use penicillin, as tetracycline is dangerous. People allergic to penicillin should desensitize before treatment. Sensitivity reactions, such as chills, fever, headache, muscle pain, nausea, and rash, usually disappear within 24 hours. Treatment for sexual partners is also necessary due to the disease’s spread.

Summary

Public health teams should educate patients on safe sexual practices, IV drug use, needle exchange programs, STD screening, barrier protection, and effective treatments. Pharmacists should also educate patients on early diagnosis and treatment.