It is small and painless, and usually goes away in about 3 weeks even without medicine. The primary lesion is highly infectious, meaning that anyone who touches it will almost certainly become infected with syphilis. However, because the lesion is so small and painless, it often goes unnoticed by the infected person or the people with whom they are having sex. Approximately 4 weeks after the primary sore goes away different symptoms known as secondary symptoms may appear. These secondary symptoms can look like many common skin problems.
Some people get rashes on their arms, legs, face, back, or stomach.
Condylomata lata are wet, raised wart-like rashes of the genital area. These secondary symptoms last about four weeks and will usually fade and then disappear without any medicine. A person can only spread syphilis when the primary or secondary symptoms are present. However, anyone infected with syphilis should be considered infectious until they are fully treated because the symptoms can be so mild that they are not noticeable. Also, women may have lesions on the cervix where they cannot be seen except by a clinician during an examination.