Unusual presentation of secondary syphilis in 2 HIV-1 positive patients

Due to diverse clinical and histopathological presentations, diagnosis of secondary syphilis can occasionally prove challenging. This is especially true in the setting of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Variable clinical presentations of secondary syphilis in HIV disease may result in an incorrect diagnosis and an inappropriate treatment regimen. Similarly, the histology of secondary syphilitic lesions may show considerable variation, depending on the clinical morphology of the eruption. We report 2 cases of secondary syphilis in HIV-1-infected patients with cutaneous lesions of variable clinical presentation and an unusual lymphoid infiltrate simulating mycosis fungoides.