"In the UK, syphilis is now rare - thanks to routine testing and easy-to-take drugs - but we still get outbreaks from time to time."
How can you get it?
You can catch syphilis:
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By having unprotected sex with someone who is infected.
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From your infected mother either when you were in the womb, transplacental infection, or while you were being born.
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Why are pregnant women tested for syphilis?
In the UK all pregnant women are tested for syphilis, by a blood test, to prevent their babies being infected.
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What are the symptoms?
Syphilis infections cause symptoms in three progressive stages:
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Primary stage
A few weeks after infection. You will get a sore, ulcer, where the germ entered the body. Usually on the genitals but it can be on the mouth or anus, depending on the type of sex you have had. During this stage, you are infectious to others.
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Secondary stage
A few weeks later. You might get a rash, warty growths on the genitals and a flu-like illness. During this stage, you are infectious to others.
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Latent stage
Some years later. If the syphilis is untreated, you might suffer damage to the heart and nervous system.
In pregnancy, syphilis can also cause miscarriage or stillbirth. If passed to the baby, the baby can get congenital syphilis.
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What tests can you offer?
A small blood sample will be taken from the vein on your arm and we send this to the laboratory to do tests for antibodies, a reaction of the body, to the syphilis bacterium. If this test is positive we will do further tests on the blood sample. These will tell us whether you have been infected with syphilis.
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What treatment can you offer?
If you test positive, we then take your medical history into account before deciding what treatment to offer. Syphilis is easily treated with a 2-week course of penicillin injections or antibiotic tablets or capsules.
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What should I do next?
Don't have unprotected sex, or any sex involving close skin contact, until the sores have been treated. We will need to do follow-up tests for the first year to make sure that the treatment has been effective and that the infection has cleared.
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