Syphilis, caused by Treponema palladum . This is a painless, hard, ulceration. Exudate from the chancre is full of spirochetes. Secondary syphilis occurs several weeks later. Organisms have spread via the bloodstream and produce a skin rash, lesions on mucous membranes of mouth, throat and cervix.
Lesions contain spirochetes.
Healthcare workers can acquire syphilis nonsexually at this point. But the rash too disappears and the disease becomes latent. After 2-4 years, the disease is not normally infectious, except from mother to fetus c. Tertiary syphilis occurs in about half the untreated cases. Inflammatory responses and CMI produce gummas, rubbery masses of cells in various parts of the body.