Untreated, syphilis can result in the breakdown of body tissues, deterioration of the bones, mental disorders, heart problems, blindness, and even death. If kisses are exchanged when syphilitic sores are on the mouth, it is possible to contract the disease in this way. Normally, however, syphilis is contracted only by sexual intercourse with an infected person. If not cured in this stage, the spirochete move into the spinal cord. In this stage, syphilis is usually incurable .
Symptoms are painful urination and the exuding of pus from the penis.
Although this is generally not the case, sometimes the pain is so great that grown men weep. I have seen much gonorrhea among our military men. It does not respond to penicillin, but must be treated with other remedies. The many ulcers which erupt on the genitals are extremely painful and accompanied by swelling. The herpes virus, closely related to the virus which causes cold sores, presents itself in painful clusters of small blisters on the genitals.