Syphilis symptoms

Primary stage

First, a chancre (a syphilis sore) will appear where the infection entered your body. These chancres can be firm, round, and painless, or sometimes open and wet. In women these sores will appear on your vulva, vagina and anus, and in men these symptoms will be present on your penis and anus. These sores are incredibly contagious and easily pass the infection to other people during sex. It is easy and common to mistake a chancre as an ingrown hair or spot, and last between 3 to 6 weeks – without treatment. If you do not get tested or seek treatment, the infection will progress to the secondary stage.

Secondary stage

During this stage, symptoms will include rashes on the palms of your hands, soles of your feet, or other parts of your body. Sometimes the rash is hard to see and as it usually isn’t itchy, it can easily go unnoticed. Also, you may experience mild flu-like symptoms, like a slight fever, feeling tired, sore throat, swollen glands, headache, and muscle aches. These symptoms can last between 2 to 6 weeks and will go away by themselves with or without treatment.

Latent stage

Often referred to as the hidden stage, there are no visible signs or symptoms of syphilis and can last for years.

Late stage

People who have had syphilis for a long time face serious health problems. Late stages of syphilis can cause tumors, blindness, and paralysis. It can damage your nervous system, brain and other organs, and may even kill you.

Syphilis is easily curable with antibiotics in the early stages. If you get treatment late, it will still cure the infection and stop future damage to your body. But the damage that late stage syphilis has already caused can’t be changed or healed. The complications from late stage syphilis can happen 10-20 years after you first get infected.