symptoms of syphilis

symptoms of syphilis

How To Know If You Have Syphilis? Let’s Find Out

An important component of every human life is sex. Having a sexual relationship with your partner helps you in two distinct ways:

  1. It helps to rekindle your relationship
  2. It keeps you healthy and fit.

Unfortunately, most people are ashamed of talking about it openly. This has led to ignorance and the development of a lot of myths encircling the same. Since sex is a vital part of your livelihood, it stands as an integral portion of your health. So, like the rest of your health, you can experience some diseases and illnesses in your sexual life as well.

Of all the common sexual illnesses, the one that gets ignored the most is syphilis. Of all the countries, the United States has the maximum number of syphilis cases. So, it can be rightly said that it is a common sexual illness in which people need a lot of education. With proper treatment, you can overcome syphilis. Should you keep syphilis untreated for a long time? well, if you practice this, it will not eliminate the disease from your body. instead, the situations will turn worse.

To find out if you are suffering from the disease, you ought to pay attention to the signs and symptoms of syphilis. Don’t you have any idea about the possible signs of syphilis? Well then, here is a detailed guide on the same.

What is syphilis?

To put it simply, syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection that occurs when you have penetrative sex with someone infected with the disease. So, syphilis gets spread when the vagina and penis come in contact. You can also have syphilis late from oral or anal sex. In medical terms, the bacteria treponema pallidum causes syphilis. If you can treat it at the very first stage, antibiotic medication can eliminate it completely.

Stages of syphilis

Syphilis progresses through 4 different stages. In each stage, the symptoms are different. The various stages of syphilis are primary secondary latent and tertiary. In each of these stages, symptoms of syphilis differ. Want to know how? Here it is.

Stage 1: Primary syphilis

After a person comes in contact with a syphilis victim, it takes around two to twelve weeks for him to develop the disease. At this stage, you develop a hard sore either in your mouth or genitals. Generally, this sore known as a chancre, is painless and goes away within a few months or weeks. However, this does not lighten your chance of having syphilis. 

Stage 2: Secondary syphilis

Six months after the sore fades away, you will gradually notice rough bumps that look like rashes. Many people consider these rashes as any other normal infection. However, the only difference between normal rashes and syphilis rashes is unlike the former, the latter occurs again and again. So, if you are happy about your rashes subsiding, be careful as they can get triggered aheagain. The common areas for these syphilis rashes include vagina, penis, palms and the bottom of your feet. Another reason why most people take these rashes lightly is their painless nature.  

Stage 3: Latent syphilis

When you don’t treat syphilis during its first two stages, it proceeds to the latent stage. Understanding this stage can be a bit tricky as it does not come up with any evident symptoms. This is a deadly stage of syphilis where your heart, nerves, bones, and other organs of the body can experience damage. Being a stage that can last up to two decades, it can sometimes cause some sudden flare-ups. However, a person in the latent stage of syphilis cannot transport the disease to someone else through sexual contact.

Stage 4: Tertiary syphilis

Most people do not experience syphilis at the tertiary stage. This is because the symptoms are too mild to be noticeable. During the tertiary stage, you experience deadly symptoms where the damages are too dangerous to be prevented. Some of the common symptoms of the tertiary stage of syphilis include brain damage, heart disease, dementia, nerve damage, seizures, vision problem, movement disorder, and muscle damage.

Transmission of syphilis

You must be wondering how syphilis gets transmitted from one person to another. It is simply because of its congenital nature. The transmission takes place through the sores or chancres. Generally, these sores occur on or inside your mouth, penis, anus, or vagina.

In short, one of the potential ways of syphilis transmission is by sexual contact. This implies that you can get syphilis through any form of sexual act such as:

  • oral sex
  • anal sex
  • penetrative sex
  • genital-to-genital sex.

In case pregnant women have syphilis, the babies can also get it from the mother. Another method of syphilis transmission is through blood transfusion.

However, there are some myths about syphilis that divert people’s minds. These myths not only confuse people but lead them to take the wrong action regarding their treatment. Some of the commons concerning syphilis include:

  • You can get syphilis if you share the same toilet or are exposed to public toilets regularly.
  • You can get syphilis by using other’s utensils.
  • Syphilis transmission is possible if you wear other person’s clothes.

Are you at risk of developing syphilis?

After reading the content this much, you must be thinking if you are at risk of developing syphilis or if you are prone to syphilis. However, your chance of getting syphilis increases if you belong to any of the following categories:

  • If you are someone who does not use a barrier method while having penetrative sex.
  • If you are a sufferer of HIV.
  • If you are a man and have sex with another man.
  • If you live with partners having syphilis.

Often, the doctor asks patients to undergo some tests to find out the accurate reasons. make sure to conduct these tests from a reputed clinic to get accurate results.

Conclusion

Therefore, syphilis is a health condition that needs treatment at the right time. What you need the most at this time is a proper STD check in London. Only with the help of proper medical treatment can you get rid of syphilis. Due to the experience and experts of the doctors in London, we recommend you reach out to the healthcare professionals of London.