[Primary ophthalmological diagnosis of Treponema pallidum infection: A case series]

This report is on five patients (four men and one woman) between the age of 24 and 66 years old who presented with unclear visual impairment in our clinic between 2009 and 2016 for co-evaluation. The clinical picture included intermediate uveitis, chorioretinitis, panuveitis and bilateral spontaneous cystoid macular edema. None of the patients reported systemic or dermatological symptoms. In all five patients, serological testing revealed a Treponema pallidum infection as the reason for ocular inflammation. The ophthalmologist was therefore the first to discover a syphilitic infection. After initiation of appropriate antibiotic therapy, there was improvement in all five patients and an increase in visual acuity.