Classification of Syphilis
Stage | Description | Symptoms and Signs |
|---|---|---|
Acquired | ||
Primary | Contagious | Chancre (a small, usually painless skin sore), regional lymphadenopathy |
Secondary | Contagious Occurs weeks to months after the primary stage | Rash (which may be confused with those due to several other disorders), sores on mucous membranes, hair loss, fever, many other symptoms |
Latent | Asymptomatic; generally not contagious May persist indefinitely or be followed by late-stage disease | Early latent syphilis (infection < 1 year duration), sometimes with recurrence of infectious lesions Late latent syphilis (infection ≥ 1 year duration), rarely with recurrences; positive serologic tests |
Late or tertiary | Symptomatic; not contagious | Clinically classified as benign tertiary syphilis, cardiovascular syphilis, or neurosyphilis (eg, asymptomatic, meningovascular, or parenchymatous neurosyphilis; tabes dorsalis) |
Congenital*† | ||
Early | Symptomatic Occurring up to age 2 years | Overt disease (eg, hepatosplenomegaly, jaundice, rhinitis, rash, lymphadenopathy, skeletal abnormalities) |
Late | Symptomatic Occurring later in life | Hutchinson teeth, eye or bone abnormalities |
* Congenital syphilis can result in miscarriage, stillbirth, or neonatal death. Approximately 40% of babies born to women with untreated syphilis are stillborn or die from the infection as a newborn (see Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Syphilis). † Can also exist in a permanently latent (asymptomatic) state. | ||