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Complications
By Mayo Clinic staffWithout treatment, syphilis can lead to damage throughout your body. Syphilis also increases the risk of HIV infection and, for women, can cause problems during pregnancy. Treatment can help prevent future damage but can't repair or reverse damage that's already occurred.
Small bumps or tumors
Called gummas, these bumps can develop on your skin, bones, liver or any other organ in the late stage of syphilis. Gummas usually disappear after treatment with antibiotics.
Neurological problems
Syphilis can cause a number of problems with your nervous system, including:
- Stroke
- Meningitis
- Deafness
- Visual problems
- Dementia
Cardiovascular problems
These may include bulging (aneurysm) and inflammation of the aorta — your body's major artery — and of other blood vessels. Syphilis may also damage heart valves.
HIV infection
Adults with sexually transmitted syphilis or other genital ulcers have an estimated two- to fivefold increased risk of contracting HIV. A syphilis sore can bleed easily, providing an easy way for HIV to enter your bloodstream during sexual activity.
Pregnancy and childbirth complications
If you're pregnant, you may pass syphilis to your unborn baby. Congenital syphilis greatly increases the risk of miscarriage, stillbirth or your newborn's death within a few days after birth.
- Hook EW. Syphilis. In: Goldman L, et al. Cecil Medicine. 23rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2007. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/218862952-3/0/1492/1185.html#4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-2805-5..50345-1--cesec16_14680. Accessed Sept. 16, 2010.
- Syphilis fact sheet. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/std/syphilis/STDFact-Syphilis.htm. Accessed Sept. 17, 2010.
- Sexually transmitted diseases surveillance, 2008: Syphilis. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/std/stats08/syphilis.htm. Accessed Sept. 16, 2010.
- Birnbaumer DM, et al. Syphilis. In: Marx JA, et al. Rosen's Emergency Medicine. 7th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Mosby Elsevier; 2009. http://www.mdconsult.com/books/page.do?eid=4-u1.0-B978-0-323-05472-0..00096-7--s0015&isbn=978-0-323-05472-0&sid=1054738467&type=bookPage§ionEid=4-u1.0-B978-0-323-05472-0..00096-7--s0040&uniqId=218994117-4#4-u1.0-B978-0-323-05472-0..00096-7--s0040. Accessed Sept. 17, 2010.
- Johnson KE. Overview of TORCH infections. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Sept. 27, 2010.
- Marra CM. Neurosyphilis. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Sept. 17, 2010.
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