Before any treatment for syphilis came around, there were reports of well-known people who suffered from end-stage syphilis, and among the many symptoms of it being insanity. The tertiary syphilis is the most critical and extremely serious stage of the bacterial infection.
When left untreated, syphilis can develop more complications, and thus, more health problems. It can damage the internal organs, such as the brain, heart, and nerves.
When it happens, people with syphilis at this stage will have higher risks of getting infected by the life-threatening disease, referred to as the neurosyphilis. It’s the nervous system infection that particularly affects the brain and the spinal cord. There are different types of neurosyphilis. It can be asymptomatic (without symptoms) and meningeal with symptoms, such as vomiting, stiff neck, nausea, or headache, which can result in a hearing or vision loss.
The more serious ones are meningovascular, which can lead to stroke, and general paresis, which gives long-lasting health problems. Individuals who have general paresis can develop a loss in the ability to use a language, emotional instabilities, weakened muscles, mood swings, personality changes, and paranoia. This type of neurosyphilis can also lead to dementia. Hence, insanity.
The last serious, but a rare one is the tabes dorsalis neurosyphilis, which can cause abdominal pain, coordination loss, altered walk, vision problems, pain in the legs, trouble in balancing, pain in the arms, and incontinence. Nevertheless, neurosyphilis is non-existent these days as there are already effective treatment for syphilis, especially if treated early.