Syphilitic infection is of bacterial origin. Bacteria named Treponema Pallidum produce it. About this nasty infection, a few things. First, you should know that the most common transmission way is by sexual contact. Direct contact with the lesions produced by the infection during sexual contact is the main cause.



It can also be transmitted through other ways. Direct contact between a healthy individual and an infected individual's saliva will get the healthy person to contracting the disease. Any contact with any other

body fluids such as seminal liquid, vaginal secretions of an infected individual will definitely lead to infection.

Nevertheless, there is a nonsexual way of contracting the disease, as it spreads through biting, kisses, or through contaminated instruments or items of any kind. The transmission probability is high, as the statistics show that the contamination risk after having sexual contact with an infected person is as high as 30-50 percent. One single touch and the bacteria could be spreading.

If we may say so, the debut of the disease is very "discreet", and it has a slow but certain evolution. If left untreated, this awful disease can have dramatic endings of the evolution. Nowadays, the blood is tested before any blood transfusion of any kind. That means that the risk of infection through blood transfusion should be zero. However, it never hurts to be extra attentive, does it?

One other mean of transmission of the syphilis is from the mother to the newborn. In case the pregnant woman is infected, she could transmit the bacteria to her son or daughter. This type of contamination is called congenital transmission.

As far as the manifestation of this disease is concerned, it materializes in more than one way, depending on the length of the period of time, which has passed since the exposure therefore contamination with the virus. There are many Phases of the evolution of the disease, and it develops from bad to worse along the years.

The incubation period of the bacteria, which is the period following the exposure to the infection, does not present any clinical nor biological symptoms usually. The incubation period can last up to ninety days in case of syphilitic infection.

The secondary phase leads to the disappearance of the initial phase symptoms, and it can last up to two years. During this period, the bacteria affects all the fluids of the human body, including blood, vaginal secretions, seminal liquid, saliva, etc, and the infected individual is highly contagious for the other around.

To test the blood, to reveal if there is an infection or not, contributes to tracing the bacteria. The final diagnosis is made by microscopic analysis of the secretions coming from a primary or secondary lesion or other serological tests.

Syphilis can be cured as long as the treatment starts right after the exposure. Antibiotics are usually recommended but if the treatment starts when the disease has evolved, there may be permanent damage to the affected organs.