Syphilis is a serious sexually transmitted infection (STI) that does not go away without treatment. If syphilis is not treated, it can harm the brain, heart, and other organs, and lead to blindness, paralysis, or brain-related changes years later. Syphilis can also be passed from a pregnant person to their baby, risking the baby's health or life.
If you are sexually active, or thinking of becoming sexually active, it is important that you Talk. Test. Treat. Prevent. Healthy sex is better sex.
Talk openly and honestly to your partner(s) and/or your healthcare provider about sexual health and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) like syphilis.
If your healthcare provider does not discuss sex, STI testing, or syphilis testing with you, bring it up.
Syphilis is also known as “The Great Pretender” because its symptoms can look like many other diseases. Symptoms can include a sore where the infection site happened and a rash that is present on arms, legs, torso, and/or back. At any point with syphilis, you can also develop neuro-like symptoms like headaches, back pain, vision and hearing changes.
Location: Mouth, genital regions
Usually (but not always) firm, round, and painless. The location of the sore/chancre is where syphilis enters your body and appears 10-90 days after infection. This symptom is contagious and can spread to another person during vaginal, anal, or oral sex through close skin-to-skin contact. The chancre/sore usually lasts 3 to 6 weeks and will go away with or without treatment.
Location: Mouth, genital regions, palms, legs, torso, back
Rough, usually won’t itch, color is red or reddish-brown. This symptom is contagious and can spread to another person during vaginal, anal, or oral sex through close skin-to-skin contact. The rash can show up when your chancre/sore is healing or several weeks after the chancre/sore has healed. The skin rash will go away with or without treatment.
Location: mouth, genital regions
Two different types of lesions may appear - condyloma lata or mucous patches. Condyloma lata are large, raised, gray or white lesions. Mucous patches are flat, silver-gray lesions. This symptom is contagious and can spread to another person during vaginal, anal, or oral sex through close skin-to-skin contact. Lesions can show up when your chancre/sore is healing or several weeks after the chancre/sore has healed. The lesions will go away with or without treatment.
Location: Whole body
When you have a rash and/or lesions, you may also have a fever, swollen lymph nodes, sore throat, patchy hair loss, weight loss, and/or feel very tired. The symptoms will go away with or without treatment.
Location: Brain
Neck or back pain, severe headaches, muscle weakness, stroke, and/or memory loss. These symptoms may appear at any point.
Location: Eyes
Changes in your vision, eye pain, and/or eye redness. These symptoms may appear at any point.
Location: Ears
Changes in your hearing, ringing/buzzing, and/or feeling like you or your surrounds are moving or spinning. These symptoms may appear at any point.
Location: Fetus
Syphilis can spread from a mother with syphilis to her unborn baby. Babies born to women with untreated syphilis may be stillborn or die from the infection as a newborn.
Babies born with congenital syphilis can have no symptoms or develop symptoms after birth like blistering lesions, runny nose, yellowish skin and eyes, abnormal bone structures, and/or enlarged liver/spleen.
Get tested. It’s the only way to know for sure if you have syphilis.
All sexually active people aged 15-44 years living in Black Hawk County should be tested due to high community rates of syphilis.
Not all STI panel testing includes syphilis testing, so don’t assume that you’ve been tested for syphilis unless you discuss it with your healthcare provider.
If you are pregnant, get tested 3 times: at your first prenatal visit, during your third trimester, and at delivery when your baby is born.
If you test positive for syphilis, work with your healthcare provider to get the correct treatment.
If you are pregnant and test positive, you need to be treated right away to make sure your baby does not get congenital syphilis.
Babies who have congenital syphilis need to be treated right away or they can develop serious health problems.
Make sure your treatment works by doing these things:
Use condoms the right way every time you have vaginal, anal, or oral sex to lower your risk of getting or giving syphilis when the condom covers the syphilis sores and/or lesions.
Being tested and treated for syphilis once does not protect you from getting syphilis again. It is important to complete follow-up testing with your healthcare provider.
If you test negative for syphilis and continue to be sexually active in the future, it is important to test again if you are at increased risk.
The only way to completely avoid syphilis is to not have vaginal, anal, or oral sex. Or be in a long-term mutually monogamous relationship with a partner who does not have syphilis.
Thank you to the funder, community partners, and focus group participants for raising awareness about Syphilis in Black Hawk County: National Association of County & City Health Officials, Operation Threshold, Peoples Community Health Clinic, Together for Youth, and UnityPoint Health. This work would not be possible without these community partnerships and focus group participants on informing and designing a media/marketing awareness campaign aimed towards stopping the spread of syphilis in Black Hawk County.
Black Hawk County Public Health Center offers free confidential STI/HIV testing, treatment, and education! This includes the dual Syphilis and HIV rapid tests. Call 319-291-2413 for an appointment.
Operation Threshold provides Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) services in Black Hawk, Bremer, Buchanan and Grundy Counties. They also provide energy assistance in the form of the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) as well as crisis energy assistance. They provide the Parents as Teachers and Family Development and Self-Sufficiency (FaDSS) home visitation programs and the Weatherization assistance program. Finally, they also offer affordable rental units in Black Hawk and Buchanan counties.
Together For Youth works collaboratively to improve adolescent sexual health outcomes & strengthen young families.
Peoples Community Health Clinic, Inc. is dedicated to providing access to affordable, compassionate, high quality health care for all.
Allen Women's Health (AWH) offers sexual health services for both women and men to help them make informed decisions about disease prevention, birth control options and pregnancy.
