If left untreated, syphilis can cause severe long-term health problems. Babies born to women who are infected with syphilis may be born with mental retardation, physical deformities, or stillborn. In 1998, there were 81 cases of primary and secondary syphilis reported in New York City, for a rate of 1.1 cases per 100,000 persons, well below the federal government's national objective of 4.0 cases per 100,000 persons. Some clinics now have Saturday hours as well as weekday hours. Syphilis is a bacterial infection which can be passed from person to person through sexual contact.
Pregnant women can pass the disease to their babies before birth.
Symptoms of secondary syphilis may include rashes, fever, swollen lymph glands, sore throat, patchy hair loss, and fatigue. Those symptoms generally last two to six weeks and can clear up, even in the absence of treatment. If syphilis is still left untreated, regardless of whether symptoms were previously recognized, it can seriously damage the brain, the heart, and the nervous system, and it can be fatal. Those effects may not show up until many years after the initial exposure. While syphilis is curable by antibiotics, the longer term damages caused by the disease cannot be undone.