But then he cured him, asking himself questions like: “Will I have difficulties in getting a job?”, “Will I be able to have children later? Wouldn't my past illness negatively affect them? " But you should start in order.

First you need to figure out what is meant by this word? This is a dangerous sexually transmitted disease that has already been learned to treat. In any case, in the early stages, for sure. In more advanced cases, it is more difficult, as well as:

1. The disease is provoked by a pale spirochete (i.e., treponema).
2. It very quickly penetrates into various tissues and organs of the patient through the slightest abrasions on the skin.
3. During the course of the disease, these organisms spread throughout absolutely all human organs.

Expert opinion

Artem Sergeevich Rakov, venereologist, over 10 years of experience

Unfortunately, re-infection is possible, since immunity does not arise in those who have been ill. What is most terrible, even outside the body, spirochetes live. And for a long time. If placed in a humid environment, they live for several hours.

When and how do they die? When dry and high temperatures (if the temperature is +55 degrees, then they will need only about 15 minutes to die. They also die under the action of alkalis and acids.

Pale treponema

Interestingly, they have adapted to cooling, so even if you cool their location, they will not get anything.

How to live with syphilis?

First of all, you need to calm down, and in no case panic. Syphilis in our time is quite easy to treat. The treatment is also quite easy. They give injections once a week. The stage depends on how many injections are required. Usually a little. But not 3 or 4, as it is written on the Internet. This is not chlamydia. People are treated for them for months. And this is certainly not AIDS. People often die from him.

Do you think there is a chance for a normal life for a person who has recovered from syphilis?

YesNot

Life with this diagnosis has only minor limitations in comparison with the life that those who have never been sick with this shameful disease for someone else lead.

Limitations:

• It is forbidden to have sex during a course of therapy, which is prescribed by a doctor. Refusal from sex should last at least until the control analysis.
• Treponema (pale) spreads throughout the body, affecting all systems and organs. Therefore, you need to monitor immunity.
• Infection of another person with syphilis, if he did not know that his partner was dangerous, is considered in court as harm to health. And grave. And the percentage of the likelihood of contracting syphilis through sexual contact is from 73 to almost 100 percent. That is, sexual intercourse will most likely end in infection.
• At the first visit, the venereologist is obliged to enter a dispensary card on the patient. Then medical measures begin, from time to time serological tests to control, monitoring his condition.

Different periods of laboratory control are provided for different patients:

1. If the patient has already undergone preventive treatment, then he will have to be examined once after 3 months.
2. If the patient has an early form of syphilis, then he too will have to be examined every 3 months until the infection completely disappears. Then - for 6 months to be monitored with the obligatory delivery of the necessary tests every 3 months.
3. If the patient has a late form of the disease, then he will have to take tests for 3 years and see a doctor. And once a year - RIBT, RPGA, IFA, RIF. The doctor makes the decision on further observation depending on each specific case.
4. With neurosyphilis, the patient should be monitored for at least 3 years. And it does not depend on the stage of the disease.

The patient should be observed in the KVD, this has no negative effect on the reputation. After all, the diagnosis is not disclosed.

The patient is called by phone, or a summons by mail. Refusal to observe and control is a criminal offense. In rare, extreme cases, law enforcement officers deliver the patient for testing. But they, too, are not informed of the patient's diagnosis.

If a patient with syphilis is still ill with another disease, then doctors of the required profile are obliged to help him. That is, the patient can count on absolutely any help. The only exception is surgery.

Life after syphilis

Is it possible for such patients to have children? Can. True, women in labor are hospitalized in the infectious diseases department of the maternity hospital. But these data are not reported to the roommates. The main thing is for the expectant mother to say that she has or had syphilis, and that's it. In this case, all the necessary procedures are available to her, in which a cesarean section is included, if required.

Work restrictions

They are not limited in their choice of profession, but it is also unacceptable for such people to do the work that requires communication with a large number of people. For example, doctors, teachers, kindergarten teachers.

All these specialists have a health certificate. And in the case of syphilis, the doctor will simply write "Not allowed", without specifying why. Colleagues and bosses are also not informed. Therefore, syphilis patients do not have to worry about damaging their reputation. It will not be spoiled in any way.

Sports activities

Professional sports are closed for the patient until they are removed from the register. Because all drugs for syphilis are banned by anti-doping organizations.

And at the amateur level, some types of classes (those in which direct contact with people is not provided) can be engaged. For example:

• tennis;

• ping pong;

• cycling, etc.

Any martial arts and team events are not allowed.

Prevention of contact with sick

Nothing complicated, you just need to follow some rules:

1. The patient must use personal hygiene products. For example, a toothbrush, washcloth, towel, razor. This also applies to those who do not have syphilis.
2. The patient should have only his personal utensils. It is prohibited to take it to other family members.
3. Disinfection is not required. Routine indoor cleaning is sufficient. The patient's linen is washed along with the linen of other family members.

Video

You can also watch a video where the venereologist will tell you what the patient needs to know after treating syphilis.

Now there is a decrease in the incidence, but it is not possible to completely defeat syphilis.

The last outbreak of syphilis in Russia fell on the dashing 90s. Do Tyumen residents remember about this disease, in the Renaissance, the former equivalent of AIDS, with which it can be confused and whether stigmatization of patients with syphilis is widespread, the doctor of the Regional dermatovenerologic dispensary dermatovenerologist of the highest category Natalia Gorelikova.

- Natalya Alexandrovna, what is the current incidence of syphilis?

- This is still one of the significant sexually transmitted diseases. Now there is a decrease in the incidence, but it is not possible to completely defeat syphilis. If in 2015 for six months in Tyumen and in the south of the Tyumen region 145 cases were registered, in 2016 for the same period - 120. Some districts of the region remain unfavorable, in particular Sorokinsky and Yarkovsky. It is difficult to explain this pattern. Perhaps this is due to the low literacy of the population and the concealment of sexual relations.

- Who is sick more often today: men or women, from what social strata?

- There is an increase in the incidence among people over 30 years old. In 2015, there were 57.8 percent of such patients, in 2016 - already 66.7 percent of all cases. Young people from 20 to 29 years old also remain at risk, but they more often use condoms and hygiene products. As practice shows, awareness of syphilis among young people is higher. They are really interested in how to protect themselves and their health.

As for the division by sex, last year the incidence in men and women was at the same level. And this year there are 7 percent more men. Perhaps this was due to homosexual contact, unprotected sex, or due to the use of medications that prolong male longevity. But the decrease in the percentage of cases among women is encouraging: there is less likelihood of having children with syphilis. Four cases in half a year occur in children and adolescents. These are young people who are beginning to experiment with their sexuality, and children infected through everyday life from their parents. It should be noted that the number of patients with syphilis among migrants has increased. In 2015, six cases were recorded, in this - nine. The disease is detected during a medical examination on the Tyumen land. Migrants are offered a choice: stay and get medical treatment, or refuse and go home.

- Is congenital syphilis still a modern problem?

- Congenital syphilis is one that is passed from mother to child. For more than nine years, we have not registered a single such case. This was achieved thanks to active work with obstetricians-gynecologists, in-depth serological examination of pregnant women. All pregnant women are tested for syphilis three times: when registering, at 30 weeks and at 37 weeks, before childbirth.

- And if syphilis is detected in a pregnant woman, can it be treated?

- Sure! Pregnant women should be treated at any stage of pregnancy. Then the woman receives preventive treatment, and she has every chance of giving birth to a healthy child. This happens in 100 percent of cases, syphilis is not a sentence.

- Have you faced with a frivolous attitude to the disease? Maybe people refuse to believe that they have syphilis?

- Yes, some people doubt their diagnosis, go through several medical organizations and laboratories. Latent syphilis accounts for more than half of cases today: such syphilis may not appear in any way on the skin, and people are all waiting for tangible symptoms, looking for them in themselves, do not find them and doubt. In connection with the growth of latent forms of the disease, we are working to actively identify it. As a result, in 2015, 91 percent of cases came to us, and in 2016 - 87.

- What does "active detection" mean?

- This means that people turned to medical institutions for any other reason. For example, they were admitted to a hospital with a broken leg or with other complaints, and the examination revealed syphilis. Examination of sexual partners of already sick people also refers to active detection.

- You mentioned that syphilis is not easy to detect because of its latent forms and because of signs similar to other diseases. What can it be confused with?

- Most often, syphilis is confused with allergic dermatitis: with secondary syphilis, a rash appears on the body, similar to an allergic one. Rashes on the palms and soles of the feet can be mistaken for psoriasis or dermatitis. A rash on the genitals is often confused with herpes, or simply believe that it was rubbed there during intercourse.

- Syphilis has stages. What are these stages and how are they characterized? Secondary and tertiary syphilis - how common is it now?

- The detection rate of primary syphilis is low - only 5 percent. With it, a painless sore may appear on the body, which is easy to miss. Most often, people come to us already at the second stage, which is more advanced, with pronounced manifestations on the skin, mucous membranes and even internal organs. We have not encountered tertiary syphilis for decades.

- What is the threat of untreated syphilis?

- The disease lasting up to two years is considered early, but even its early forms can cause complications on the internal organs and the nervous system. We are talking about paralysis, tics and other pathologies. The infection can also affect the eyes, heart, stomach, liver, and other organs.

- How do doctors today help people who have contracted this disease? What do they have at their disposal?

- We will help them recover completely. After the course of treatment, patients are practically healthy, but should be on clinical and serological control from one to three years. It takes time for a blood test for syphilis to become negative.

- How long does the treatment last?

- For primary syphilis - 10 days. With secondary and latent early - 20 days. Treatment is carried out both on an outpatient basis and in a hospital. During treatment, patients are considered able-bodied, excluding the decreed group: caregivers, hairdressers, grocery salespeople.

- How is syphilis transmitted? There are many legends about the transmission of sexual diseases.

- The main path is sexual. Syphilis can also be transmitted transplacentally (from mother to child) or hematogenously (through blood). Syphilis is practically not transmitted through the household route - only girls under two years old are at risk, who use common hygiene items with their mother.

- Now in society there is a problem of stigmatization of people living with HIV. Even fairly educated people are sure that you can get infected through a handshake or a shared toilet. Has the society still stigmatized people with syphilis? How justified is it?

- Of course, many hide the fact of infection, they are embarrassed to talk about it. This is especially true for women who have had syphilis many years ago. When registering for pregnancy, they are silent about this. And in vain: such patients now give birth in ordinary hospitals, they are not locked in observational departments. All of them enter the maternity hospital treated, and are further monitored venereologist.

- How familiar are people with this problem? What do they know and what do they need to know?

- The best prevention is to have a permanent sexual partner, not to enter into casual relationships. After all, even a condom will not protect one hundred percent from contracting a genital infection. There is a lot of information now, lectures and talks are held in schools and universities. After the lecture, young people ask if infection is possible through oral and anal sex. In fact, in this case, the risk is even greater than with normal contact.

The problem of the spread of syphilis remains, but it is under the control of modern medicine. Unfortunately, the statistics are spoiled, as I said, by men over 30.

Syphilis is a serious disease characterized by damage to the skin, mucous membranes and internal organs of a person.

It is classified as a classic sexually transmitted disease. Unprotected intercourse with an unreliable or accidental sex partner can cause syphilis.

The symptoms of syphilis are very diverse, and the manifestations of the disease largely depend on its period. Previously, this infection was considered incurable, but nowadays it is successfully treated with antibiotics.

How syphilis is transmitted

In most cases, syphilis infection occurs through sexual intercourse in the vagina, mouth, or rectum. Treponema enters the body through small defects in the mucous membrane of the genital tract.

However, there are cases of infection through the household route - the disease is transmitted from one partner to another through saliva during a kiss, through common objects on which there is a non-dried discharge containing pale treponema. Sometimes transfusion of infected blood can also cause infection.

Causative agent

A mobile microorganism from the order of spirochetes, treponema pale is the causative agent of syphilis in women and men. Discovered in 1905 by German microbiologists Fritz Richard Schaudinn (1871-1906) and Erich Hoffmann (1863-1959).

Incubation period

On average, it is 4-5 weeks, in some cases the incubation period of syphilis is shorter, sometimes longer (up to 3-4 months). It is usually asymptomatic.

The incubation period may increase if the patient has taken any antibiotics due to other infectious diseases. During the incubation period, test results will show negative results.

Syphilis symptoms

The course of syphilis and its characteristic symptoms will depend on the stage of development at which it is located. At the same time, symptoms in women and men can be very diverse.

In total, it is customary to distinguish 4 stages of the disease - from the incubation period to tertiary syphilis.

The first signs of syphilis make themselves felt after the end of the incubation period (it proceeds without symptoms), and the beginning of the first stage. It is called primary syphilis, which we will discuss below.

Primary syphilis

The formation of a painless, hard chancre on the labia in women or the glans of the penis in men is the first sign of syphilis. It has a solid base, smooth edges and a brownish-red bottom.

Sores are formed at the site of penetration of the pathogen into the body, these may be other places, but most often chancres are formed precisely on the genitals of a man or woman, since the main route of transmission of the disease is through sexual intercourse.

7-14 days after the appearance of a hard chancre, the lymph nodes nearest to it begin to increase. This is a sign that the triponemes with the blood flow are carried throughout the body and affect the internal organs and systems of a person. The ulcer heals on its own within 20-40 days after onset. However, this cannot be regarded as a cure for the disease, in fact, the infection develops.

At the end of the primary period, specific symptoms may appear:

• weakness, insomnia;
• headache, loss of appetite;
• subfebrile temperature;
• pain in muscles and joints;

The primary period of the disease is subdivided into seronegative, when the standard serological blood reactions are negative (the first three to four weeks after the onset of a hard chancre) and seropositive, when the blood reactions are positive.

Secondary syphilis

After the end of the first phase of the disease, secondary syphilis begins. Symptoms that are characteristic at this moment are the appearance of a symmetrical pale rash all over the body, including the palms and soles. It does not cause any painful sensations. But it is the first sign of secondary syphilis, which occurs 8-11 weeks after the appearance of the first ulcers on the patient's body.

If the disease is not treated at this stage, then over time the rash disappears and syphilis flows into a latent stage, which can last up to 4 years. After a certain period of time, a relapse of the disease occurs.

At this stage, there are fewer rashes, they are more faded. The rash is more common in areas where the skin is exposed to mechanical stress - on the extensor surfaces, in the groin folds, under the mammary glands, in the intergluteal fold, on the mucous membranes. In this case, hair loss on the head is possible, as well as the appearance of flesh-colored growths on the genitals and in the anus.

Tertiary syphilis

Today, fortunately, stage III infections are rare.

However, if the disease is not treated in a timely manner, then after 3-5 years or more from the moment of infection, the tertiary period of syphilis begins. At this stage, the infection affects the internal organs, foci (threshing floors) are formed on the skin, mucous membranes, heart, liver, brain, lungs, bones and eyes. The bridge of the nose can sink in, and while eating, food gets into the nose.

Symptoms of tertiary syphilis are associated with the death of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, as a result, in the advanced third stage, dementia and progressive paralysis may occur. Wasserman's reaction and other tests can be weakly positive or negative.

Do not wait for the development of the last stage of the disease, and at the first alarming symptoms, immediately consult a doctor.

Diagnostics

The diagnosis of syphilis will directly depend on the stage at which it is. It will be based on the patient's symptoms and test results.

In the case of the primary stage, hard chancres and lymph nodes are examined. At the next stage, the affected skin areas, papules of the mucous membranes are examined. In general, bacteriological, immunological, serological and other research methods are used to diagnose infection. It should be borne in mind that at certain stages of the disease, the test results for syphilis may be negative in the presence of the disease, which makes it difficult to diagnose the infection.

To confirm the diagnosis, a specific Wasserman reaction is performed, but it often gives false test results. Therefore, for the diagnosis of syphilis, it is necessary to simultaneously use several types of analyzes - RIF, ELISA, RIBT, RPHA, microscopy method, PCR analysis.

Syphilis treatment

In women and men, syphilis treatment should be comprehensive and individual. This is one of the most formidable sexually transmitted diseases, leading to serious consequences with improper treatment, so under no circumstances should you self-medicate at home.

Antibiotics are the mainstay of treatment for syphilis, thanks to which the effectiveness of treatment is close to 100%. The patient can be treated on an outpatient basis, under the supervision of a physician who prescribes comprehensive and individual treatment. Today, penicillin derivatives are used in sufficient doses (benzylpenicillin) for anti-syphilitic therapy. Premature termination of treatment is unacceptable, it is necessary to complete the full course of treatment.

At the discretion of the attending physician, additional antibiotic treatment can be prescribed - immunomodulators, vitamins, physiotherapy, etc. During treatment, a man or woman is strictly contraindicated in any sexual intercourse and alcohol. After the end of treatment, it is necessary to pass control tests. These can be quantitative non-treponemal blood tests (for example, RW with cardiolipin antigen).

Effects

The consequences of treated syphilis usually include a decrease in immunity, problems with the endocrine system, and chromosomal lesions of varying severity. In addition, after the treatment of pale treponema, a trace reaction remains in the blood, which may not disappear until the end of life.

If syphilis is not detected and treated, it can progress to the tertiary (late) stage, which is the most destructive.

Late stage complications include:

1. Gummas, large ulcers inside the body or on the skin. Some of these gummas "dissolve" without leaving traces, in place of the rest syphilis ulcers form, leading to softening and destruction of tissues, including the bones of the skull. It turns out that a person simply rots alive.
2. Lesions of the nervous system (latent, acute generalized, subacute (basal), syphilitic hydrocephalus, early meningovascular syphilis, meningomyelitis, neuritis, tabes of the spinal cord, paralysis, etc.);
3. Neurosyphilis, which affects the brain or the membrane covering the brain.

If the infection with treponema proceeded during pregnancy, then the consequences of the infection can manifest itself in a child who receives pale treponema through the mother's placenta.

Prevention

The most reliable prevention of syphilis is the use of a condom. It is necessary to carry out timely examination in case of contact with infected people. It is also possible to use antiseptic drugs (geksikon, etc.).

If you find an infection in yourself, it is important to inform all your sexual partners about it so that they also undergo an appropriate examination.

Forecast

The prognosis of the disease in most cases is favorable. Timely diagnosis and adequate treatment leads to complete recovery. However, with a long chronic course and in cases of infection of the fetus in the womb, persistent irreversible changes develop, leading to disability.

Syphilis is a chronic infectious disease. If untreated, it can cause severe damage to vital organs. Syphilis is caused by a pale spirochete. This microbe is named spirochete because of its resemblance to a thin spiral, and pale because the microbe can be seen under a microscope with weak staining. The spirochete has a large number of curls that move in different directions. Finding it in rashes on the patient's body allows you to immediately diagnose. The pale spirochete outside the human body is not very resistant to various environmental influences. Disinfectants kill her quickly. The pale spirochete soon dies on exposure to direct sunlight, heating above 60 °, and drying out. She lives and reproduces in the body of a patient with syphilis.

Due to the fact that the pale spirochete parasitizes only in the human body, infection can occur only from a patient with syphilis. In 95-98% of cases, a healthy person becomes infected during sexual intercourse with a patient who has infectious manifestations. Most often these are ulcers, abrasions, weeping nodules, located mainly on the mucous membrane of the oral cavity, on the genitals, in the perineum, around the anus. A large number of pale spirochetes is found in the liquid taken from the surface of these lesions. Weeping nodules are especially infectious, sometimes merging into large weeping cyanotic-red plaques. Infection with syphilis can occur not only during sexual intercourse, but even when trying to have sexual intercourse.

Infection with syphilis can occur with a kiss if the patient has a rash on the oral mucosa. Cases of domestic infection with syphilis are very rare, since the pale spirochete, which can live in the human body for tens of years, quickly dies outside of it from the effects of various factors. Infection usually occurs only with very close household contact (feeding a child with a spoon used by the patient, sharing a bed, etc.). Isolated cases of domestic syphilis occur mainly in young children who become infected from their sick parents. Syphilis is passed on to offspring. Unlike chancre and gonorrhea, syphilis is transmitted to offspring. They knew about it already at the end of the 15th century. It was only unknown how the child was infected.

At first, it was assumed that syphilis is a hereditary disease and is transmitted through the male or female reproductive cell. Further study of the disease showed that only a woman with syphilis, untreated or poorly treated, can infect her unborn child during pregnancy. Syphilis transmitted to an unborn child (in the womb) is called congenital. Transmission occurs around the 4th month of pregnancy. At this time, pale spirochetes penetrate the fetal tissue through the blood vessels from the child's place - the placenta, they very quickly enter various organs and tissues, and since the fetal resistance is very low, they multiply intensively and cause severe damage to the vital organs of the fetus. All this entails a miscarriage at the 6-7th month of pregnancy.

But a living child may be born with signs of syphilis, or outwardly the child seems healthy, however, after 5-10 years or more, signs of the disease may appear: damage to internal organs, bones, hearing loss, eye disease, sometimes with complete loss of vision. The different outcome of pregnancy in a patient with syphilis depends on the stage of the disease during pregnancy, on the duration of infection, on the general condition of the woman. The sooner pregnancy occurs after infection, the more opportunities for the fetus to become infected. If a patient with syphilis is carefully treated, a healthy child is always born to her. One of the main conditions for the prevention of congenital syphilis is the timely detection and full treatment of patients with syphilis.

In antenatal clinics, in order not to miss the latent form of syphilis, all pregnant women are tested for the Wasserman reaction in the first and second half of pregnancy, and if the disease is detected, treatment is carried out. To fully guarantee the birth of a healthy child, all women who have had syphilis in the past and who have completed treatment receive additional preventive treatment during pregnancy. All children born to mothers who previously had syphilis are examined by specialists in the first months. Children born to mothers with syphilis who did not have time to complete treatment during pregnancy or were treated poorly and inaccurately before pregnancy receive preventive treatment (despite the absence of clinical manifestations of syphilis and a negative Wasserman reaction).