HIV and staphylococcus seem to be the most common and dreaded sexually transmitted infections in Nigeria today, but they are a myriad of equally debilitating(if not more) infections during pant-down sessions. A typical infection is Syphilis.

What is syphilis?

Syphilis is a rare but very serious sexually transmitted infection caused by bacteria. Although very easy to treat once discovered, it can cause serious and potentially life threatening complications if left untreated. It is caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum and usually occurs in four stages. The symptom vary with each stage.

How can you get syphilis?

Syphilis can be contacted through vaginal, oral or anal sex with an infected person. There has to be direct contact with the syphilis sore(which is the first sign of infection) during sex. Syphilis can also be transferred from an infected mother to her unborn baby.

Signs and Symptoms of syphilis
Syphilis is divided into four stages (primary, secondary, latent, and tertiary), with different signs and symptoms associated with each stage. A person with primary syphilis generally has a sore or sores at the original site of infection. These sores usually occur on or around the genitals, around the anus or in the rectum, or in or around the mouth. These sores are usually (but not always) firm, round, and painless. Symptoms of secondary syphilis include skin rash, swollen lymph nodes, and fever.

The signs and symptoms of primary and secondary syphilis can be mild, and they might not be noticed. And that's why syphilis can be a very tricky infection, going unnoticed until it attains complicated stages. During the latent stage, there are no signs or symptoms and can last for decades. Tertiary syphilis is associated with severe medical problems. The tertiary symptoms can develop later than 10-30 years after initial infection. A doctor can usually diagnose tertiary syphilis with the help of multiple tests. It can affect the heart, brain, liver and other important organs of the body.

Complicated signs and symptoms
Without treatment, syphilis can spread to the nervous system including the brain (neurosyphilis) or to the eye (ocular syphilis). This can happen during any of the stages aforementioned.

Symptoms of neurosyphilis include severe headache; difficulty coordinating muscle movements; paralysis (not able to move certain parts of your body); numbness; and dementia (mental disorder).
Symptoms of ocular syphilis include changes in your vision and even blindness.

In pregnant women, syphilis can lead to a low birth weight baby, a pre-mature born or a stillborn. An infected baby may be born without manifesting symptoms, however if left untreated, such baby can develop health problems such as cataract, deafness, seizures or ultimately death.

DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT
A blood test is usually used to test for syphilis. More specifically, a lab test for the sore fluid can also be used. Syphilis can easily be cured with the right antibiotics (like penicillin) but treatment cannot undo previous damage, hence, early detection is key. Syphilis is a relatively rare infection in Nigeria though, affecting fewer than 100,000 people per year in Nigeria per annum(Wikipedia).


References:- https://www.cdc.gov/std/syphilis/stdfact-syphilis.htm