You can give syphilis to your sexual partners. Syphilis can travel to other organs of the body and reappear years later, causing heart disease, brain damage, blindness, and death. Treatment depends on the stage of the infection, but usually some form of penicillin is required to destroy all the bacteria. Flu-like symptoms often occur for several hours or days right after receiving penicillin. Inform all sexual partners during the last 3 months that they need to get checked to see if they also need treatment.
Some people have no symptoms.
Small, painful blisters with clear fluid on the sex organs, mouth, or rectum, often in a small group of 3 to 10 blisters. Blisters last 1-3 weeks. Blisters often return every few weeks or months in the same place, usually preceded by itching or burning. Condoms protect only what they cover, leaving scrotum, buttocks, and other skin surfaces exposed to the virus. Open blisters contain high concentrations of the virus and are very contagious, but some virus can still be shed even when there are no visible blisters.