The erythrocyte sedimentation rate in syphilis

Area of Science:

• Infectious Diseases
• Clinical Pathology
• Syphilology

Background:

• Syphilis is a complex sexually transmitted infection with diverse clinical presentations.
• The erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) is a common non-specific inflammatory marker.
• Understanding inflammatory marker behavior in syphilis is crucial for patient management.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) in patients with different stages of syphilis.
• To determine the utility of ESR in diagnosing and managing syphilis.
• To assess the role of ESR in post-treatment follow-up for syphilis.

Main Methods:

• Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) was measured in 520 men and 202 women diagnosed with syphilis.
• ESR levels were analyzed across various syphilis stages: primary (sero-negative and sero-positive), secondary, early latent, and late latent.
• ESR was also evaluated in cases of neurosyphilis and cardiovascular syphilis.

Main Results:

• Elevated ESR was observed in a significant percentage of patients across all syphilis stages.
• Specifically, ESR was raised in 66.6% of sero-negative primary, 80% of sero-positive primary, 100% of secondary, 80% of early latent, and 73.9% of late latent cases.
• High ESR levels were also noted in most neurosyphilis (16/17) and all cardiovascular syphilis (11/11) cases.

Conclusions:

• The erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) shows high prevalence in active syphilis but has limited utility in general syphilis management.
• ESR may serve as a valuable tool for post-treatment monitoring, particularly in late syphilis cases.
• Further research could explore ESR's role in conjunction with other markers for comprehensive syphilis assessment.