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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. If you're treated during this stage, the gummas will usually disappear.
Neurological problems
In the late stage, syphilis can cause a number of problems with your nervous system, including:
- Stroke
- Infection and inflammation of the membranes and fluid surrounding the brain and spinal cord (meningitis)
- Poor muscle coordination
- Numbness
- Paralysis
- Deafness or visual problems
- Personality changes
- 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 cause valvular heart disease, such as aortic valve stenosis.
HIV infection
Adults with sexually transmitted syphilis or other genital ulcers have an estimated two- to five-fold 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
About 40 percent of babies who contract syphilis from their mothers will die — either through miscarriage, stillbirth or within a few days of birth. The chance of premature (preterm) birth also is higher.
- 2006 syphilis surveillance report. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/std/Syphilis2006/default.htm. Accessed Oct. 21, 2008.
- Syphilis: Questions and answers. American Social Health Association. http://www.ashastd.org/learn/learn_syphilis.cfm. Accessed Oct. 21, 2008.
- Syphilis. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/topics/syphilis. Accessed Oct. 21, 2008.
- Syphilis & MSM (men who have sex with men). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/STD/syphilis/STDFact-MSM&Syphilis.htm. Accessed Oct. 21, 2008.
- Syphilis. National Women's Health Information Center. http://www.womenshealth.gov/faq/syphilis.cfm. Accessed Oct. 21, 2008.
- French P. Syphilis. British Medical Journal. 2007;334:143.
- Syphilis. Planned Parenthood. May 19, 2008. http://www.plannedparenthood.org/health-topics/stds-hiv-safer-sex/syphilis-4281.htm.
- Meyers D, et al. USPSTF recommendations for STI screening. American Family Physician. 2008;77(6):819.
- Chakraborty R, et al. Syphilis is on the increase: The implications for child health. Archives of Diseases in Children. 2008:93(2):105.
- Syphilis. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. December 2007. http://www.cdc.gov/std/syphilis/STDFact-Syphilis.htm. Accessed Oct. 21, 2008.
- Syphilis. Lab Tests Online. http://www.labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/syphilis/multiprint.html. Accessed Oct. 21, 2008.
- Syphilis. In: Sexually transmitted diseases treatment guidelines, 2006. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 2006;55(RR-11):22. http://www.cdc.gov/STD/treatment/. Accessed Oct. 21, 2008.
- Congenital syphilis. In: Sexually transmitted diseases treatment guidelines, 2006. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 2006. 55(RR-11):30-33. http://www.cdc.gov/STD/treatment/. Accessed Oct. 21, 2008.
