The Resurgence of Syphilis

Abstract

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection that can lead to deadly outcomes in both the male and female population if not treated appropriately and in a timely manner. This is a case of a 27-year-old Caucasian male with no past medical history who presented with a generalized, erythematous, maculopapular rash for the past 2 weeks. Patient initially presented with prodromal symptoms 2 weeks prior to rash development. After failure of multiple treatments, screening for sexually transmitted infections was performed, which returned a rapid plasma reagin (RPR) titer of 1:128. The patient was diagnosed with secondary syphilis and immediately treated with three injections of bicillin L-A (penicillin G) for three consecutive weeks. This case is important to current medical practice due to the rise of primary and secondary syphilis in the adult male and female population, especially those aged 20 - 29 years. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the rate of reported primary and secondary syphilis cases has increased 19% since 2001. Prompt treatment of primary or secondary syphilis can prevent progression to tertiary syphilis and potential development of neurosyphilis, decreased visual acuity, hearing loss, vascular disease leading to thrombosis, ischemia and infarction, ataxia, and paresis. Clin Infect Immun. 2017;2(2-3):31-35 doi: https://doi.org/10.14740/cii64e