Pneumonia alba (white pneumonia) is often seen in neonates with congenital syphilis. The lung may be firm and pale, owing to the presence of inflammatory cells and fibrosis in the alveolar septa. Spirochetes are readily demonstrable in tissue sections.
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum. The signs and symptoms of syphilis vary depending in which of the four stages it presents. The primary stage classically presents with a single chancre though there may be multiple sores. In secondary syphilis, a diffuse rash occurs, which frequently involves the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. There may also be sores in the mouth or vagina. In latent syphilis, which can last for years, there are few or no symptoms. In tertiary syphilis, there are gummas, neurological problems, or heart symptoms. Syphilis has been known as "the great imitator" as it may cause symptoms similar to many other diseases.
The Venereal Disease Research Laboratory test (VDRL) is a blood test for syphilis and related non-venereal treponematoses that was developed by the eponymous US laboratory. The VDRL test is used to screen for syphilis, whereas other, more specific tests are used to diagnose the disease.
Hutchinson's teeth is a sign of congenital syphilis. Affected people have teeth that are smaller and more widely spaced than normal and which have notches on their biting surfaces.
Congenital syphilis is syphilis that occurs when a mother with untreated syphilis passes the infection to her baby during pregnancy or at birth. It may present in the fetus, infant, or later. Clinical features vary and differ between early onset, that is presentation before 2-years of age, and late onset, presentation after age 2-years. Infection in the unborn baby may present as poor growth, non-immune hydrops leading to premature birth or loss of the baby, or no signs. Affected newborns mostly initially have no clinical signs. They may be small and irritable. Characteristic features include a rash, fever, large liver and spleen, a runny and congested nose, and inflammation around bone or cartilage. There may be jaundice, large glands, pneumonia, meningitis, warty bumps on genitals, deafness or blindness. Untreated babies that survive the early phase may develop skeletal deformities including deformity of the nose, lower legs, forehead, collar bone, jaw, and cheek bone. There may be a perforated or high arched palate, and recurrent joint disease. Other late signs include linear perioral tears, intellectual disability, hydrocephalus, and juvenile general paresis. Seizures and cranial nerve palsies may first occur in both early and late phases. Eighth nerve palsy, interstitial keratitis and small notched teeth may appear individually or together; known as Hutchinson's triad.
A petechia is a small red or purple spot that can appear on the skin, conjunctiva, retina, and mucous membranes which is caused by haemorrhage of capillaries. The word is derived from Italian petecchia, 'freckle,' of obscure origin. It refers to one of the three descriptive types of hematoma differentiated by size, the other two being ecchymosis and purpura. The term is typically used in the plural (petechiae), since a single petechia is seldom noticed or significant.
Parrot's sign, refers to at least two medical signs; one relating to a large skull and another to a pupil reaction.
A vertically transmitted infection is an infection caused by pathogenic bacteria or viruses that use mother-to-child transmission, that is, transmission directly from the mother to an embryo, fetus, or baby during pregnancy or childbirth. It can occur when the mother has a pre-existing disease or becomes infected during pregnancy. Nutritional deficiencies may exacerbate the risks of perinatal infections. Vertical transmission is important for the mathematical modelling of infectious diseases, especially for diseases of animals with large litter sizes, as it causes a wave of new infectious individuals.
Lobar pneumonia is a form of pneumonia characterized by inflammatory exudate within the intra-alveolar space resulting in consolidation that affects a large and continuous area of the lobe of a lung.
Autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) occurs when antibodies directed against the person's own red blood cells (RBCs) cause them to burst (lyse), leading to an insufficient number of oxygen-carrying red blood cells in the circulation. The lifetime of the RBCs is reduced from the normal 100–120 days to just a few days in serious cases. The intracellular components of the RBCs are released into the circulating blood and into tissues, leading to some of the characteristic symptoms of this condition. The antibodies are usually directed against high-incidence antigens, therefore they also commonly act on allogenic RBCs. AIHA is a relatively rare condition, with an incidence of 5–10 cases per 1 million persons per year in the warm-antibody type and 0.45 to 1.9 cases per 1 million persons per year in the cold antibody type. Autoimmune hemolysis might be a precursor of later onset systemic lupus erythematosus.
Hutchinson's triad is named after Sir Jonathan Hutchinson (1828–1913). It is a common pattern of presentation for late congenital syphilis, and consists of three phenomena: interstitial keratitis, malformed teeth, and eighth nerve deafness. There may also be a deformity on the nose known as saddle nose deformity.
Late congenital syphilitic oculopathy is a disease of the eye, a manifestation of late congenital syphilis. It can appear as:
Jean Alfred Fournier was a French dermatologist who specialized in the study of venereal disease.
Charles-Paul Diday was a French physician born in Bourg-en-Bresse.
Higouménakis' sign is a unilateral enlargement of the sternoclavicular portion of the right clavicle, seen in congenital syphilis.
The Regional Initiative for the Elimination of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV and Congenital Syphilis in Latin America and the Caribbean, also known as the "Elimination Initiative", is a multi-agency effort to integrate the services of prevention and diagnosis of HIV and syphilis within the framework of primary care services, prenatal, sexual, reproductive and family health. Typically, prevention of the mother-to-child transmission of HIV and congenital syphilis has been addressed separately.
Mulberry molars are a dental condition usually associated with congenital syphilis, characterized by multiple rounded rudimentary enamel cusps on the permanent first molars. These teeth are functional but can be fixed with crowns, bridges, or implants.
Syphilis is a bacterial infection transmitted by sexual contact and is believed to have infected 12 million people in 1999 with greater than 90% of cases in the developing world. It affects between 700,000 and 1.6 million pregnancies a year, resulting in spontaneous abortions, stillbirths, and congenital syphilis. In Sub-Saharan Africa syphilis contributes to approximately 20% of perinatal deaths.
The first recorded outbreak of syphilis in Europe occurred in 1494/1495 in Naples, Italy, during a French invasion. Because it was spread geographically by French troops returning from that campaign, the disease was known as "French disease", and it was not until 1530 that the term "syphilis" was first applied by the Italian physician and poet Girolamo Fracastoro. The causative organism, Treponema pallidum, was first identified by Fritz Schaudinn and Erich Hoffmann in 1905 at the Charité Clinic in Berlin. The first effective treatment, Salvarsan, was developed in 1910 by Sahachiro Hata in the laboratory of Paul Ehrlich. It was followed by the introduction of penicillin in 1943.
In the United States, the National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System (NNDSS) is responsible for sharing information regarding notifiable diseases. As of 2020, the following are the notifiable diseases in the US as mandated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
 | This article about a medical condition affecting the respiratory system is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
