Syphilis: signs, symptoms, treatment and nursing management

The rise in the number of cases of syphilis reported over the last 3 years (Communicable Disease Report, 1997) suggests that some individuals are not practising safer sex and/or that health education programmes are ineffective. The increasing incidence could also be a consequence of more people attending for sexual health checks. Syphilis is primarily a sexually transmitted disease, although a pregnant woman may pass the disease to her fetus via the placenta, and rarely healthcare professionals may acquire the disease through open lesions. If allowed to run its full course the disease can have devastating effects on the individual. Regular screening of at-risk groups, screening at antenatal clinics and genitourinary medicine clinics, promotion of safer sex activities and health education may aid prevention. The nurse is ideally placed to provide patients with information that may prevent infection or help to minimize its severity.