The disease attacks major organs such as the brain, heart, or nervous system, and can cause severe complications, such as blindness, crippling, insanity, and death. When syphilis progresses from stage to stage the obvious symptoms go away without treatment. This can lead a person to believe that they no longer have the disease. In reality, syphilis becomes inactive, and then will cause new problems later on. Syphilis can be spread during any of its stages.
Medical treatment is the only way to cure syphilis.
Syphilis is diagnosed by a combination of medical history, physical examination, looking at infected secretions under a microscope, and by blood tests. Other antibiotics may be prescribed. All patients need to be re-evaluated after treatment to be certain of cure and some patients will need to take more than one course of antibiotics. Know your partner. Your risk of getting an STD increases with the number of sex partners you or your partner has.