Syphilis is a dangerous disease caused by pale treponema and transmitted predominantly through sexual intercourse. Disease in severe cases can lead to damage to the nervous system, internal organs, bones and joints. That is why it is so important immediately after the appearance of the first symptoms or the appearance of suspicions of the possibility of contracting syphilis to see a doctor to conduct early diagnosis and treatment of this disease.
How is syphilis diagnosed?
Diagnosis of syphilis consists of:
- analysis of patient complaints;
- examination of the patient;
- performance of laboratory tests.
First, the doctor asks the patient about the symptoms of the disease, is interested in the patient's sexual partners, cases of syphilis in the family.
Then they proceed to identify the symptoms characteristic of the disease: rashes on the skin, firm chancre, enlarged lymph nodes.
The patient is then assigned to conduct laboratory tests to clarify the diagnosis of syphilis and differentiate it from other diseases with similar symptoms (allergic dermatitis, genital herpes , trichomoniasis and others).
Laboratory (microbiological) diagnosis of syphilis
In the differential diagnosis of syphilis, various methods are used:
- firstly, non-treponemal serological analysis, in which the patient's blood is examined for the presence of antibodies produced by the body against phospholipids of tissues that are destroyed by infection and lipids of the pale treponema membrane (Wasserman reaction, rapid plasma reactivity test (rapid diagnosis of syphilis), quantitative test VDRL);
- secondly, treponemal serological analysis, in which the blood is examined for the presence of antibodies against the pathogen antigens (RIF, RIBT, RPGA, ELISA diagnostics of syphilis);
- Thirdly, methods aimed at detecting pale treponema in biological material taken from amniotic fluid, lymph nodes, CSF (PCR diagnostics of syphilis, direct immunofluorescence reaction, darkfield microscopy).
The final diagnosis is made by a venereologist, evaluating all the data obtained - anamnesis, clinical picture of the disease, laboratory data, which should include information on the detection of pale treponema, the results of serological examination.
Before the treatment of the disease, it is very important that the diagnosis of syphilis is confirmed by laboratory data.