SYPHILIS: DIAGNOSIS, TREATMENT, PREVENTION
This is the famous old disease that just about anyone who’s anyone had in the dim dark ages; kings and queens, explorers, anyone famous, it seems. Despite this disease being ‘out of fashion’, so to speak, it is still around. New cases among heterosexuals are not common, but you don’t want to be the first person on the block to get it.
Penicillin, again, has been responsible for a change in the pattern of syphilis infection over the last few generations. However, becoming complacent about diseases is a sure-fire way to invite them back into the community. There are new cases reported every year.
Syphilis is a remarkable bug, if you are interested in that sort of thing. It is sort of a spirally looking bacterium, called ‘Treponema pallidum’, and is spread in two ways: through sexual contact; and through a mother’s placenta to her developing baby.
So there’s another good reason to avoid it. Affected babies may develop typical features as they grow up. Fortunately ‘congenital syphilis’, as it is known, is rare in Australia now. A blood test for syphilis is generally included in the routine screening tests at the beginning of a woman’s pregnancy for this reason. Treatment, even during pregnancy, can help the baby and the mother.
Diagnosis. At the stage of the little sore, the bugs can be seen on a special slide, but more often it is diagnosed through a blood test. There are several different blood tests which are positive at varying stages of the infection.
Treatment. Good old penicillin, but lots of it, and usually in injections in the bottom, every day for ten days, then more blood tests regularly for a couple of years, to make sure you are cured and stay that way. People with penicillin allergy can have alternative treatment.
Prevention. Don’t have sexual contact with anyone who has syphilis (or a possibly syphilitic sore), and practice safe sex—condoms, etc.
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