Syphilis

The symptoms of syphilis are the same for men and women and can be difficult to recognise. They are often mild, which means you can pass on the infection without knowing you have got it.

The symptoms develop in three stages:

• primary syphilis,
• secondary syphilis, and
• tertiary syphilis.

Primary syphilis

The initial symptoms of syphilis can appear any time from 10 days to three months after you have been exposed to the condition.

The most common symptom is the appearance of a small, painless sore or ulcer (called a chancre). The sore will appear on the part of your body where the infection was transmitted - typically the penis, vagina, anus, rectum, tongue or lips. Most people only have one sore, but some people have more.

You may also experience swelling in your lymph glands (small organs found throughout the body, such as in the neck, groin or armpit).

The sore is painless and may be overlooked, so the condition can be spread without realising there is an infection.

The sore will then disappear within two to six weeks and, if the condition is not treated, syphilis will move into its second stage.

Secondary syphilis

The symptoms of secondary syphilis will begin a few weeks after the disappearance of the sore.

Common symptoms include:

• a non-itchy skin rash appearing anywhere on your body, but commonly on the palms of your hands or soles of your feet,
• tiredness,
• headaches, and
• swollen lymph glands.

Less common symptoms include:

• fever,
• weight loss,
• patchy hair loss, and
• joint pains.

These symptoms may disappear within a few weeks, or come and go over a period of months.

Latent phase

Syphilis will then move into its latent (hidden) phase, where you will experience no symptoms, even though you remain infected. Latent syphilis can still be passed on during the first year of this stage of the condition, usually through sexual or close physical contact. However, after a couple of years, you cannot pass the infection to others, even though you remain infected.

The latent stage can continue for many years (even decades) after you first become infected.

Without treatment, there is a risk that latent syphilis will move on to the most dangerous stage: tertiary syphilis.

Tertiary syphilis

The symptoms of tertiary syphilis can begin years or even decades after initial infection.

The symptoms of tertiary syphilis will depend on what part of the body the infection spreads to. For example, it may affect the brain, nerves, eyes, heart, bones, skin or blood vessels, potentially causing any of the following symptoms:

• stroke,
• dementia,
• loss of coordination,
• numbness,
• paralysis,
• blindness,
• deafness,
• heart disease, or
• skin rashes.

At this stage, syphilis can be dangerous enough to cause death.