Treatment of Primary and Secondary Syphilis: Defining Failure at Three- and Six-Month Follow-up

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-16-1987

Publication Title

Journal of the American Medical Association

Volume

257

Issue

3

First page number:

359

Last page number:

360

Abstract

In 1985, approximately 28 000 cases of primary and secondary syphilis were reported in the United States (Centers for Disease Control, unpublished data). A large proportion of these patients were treated with the recommended therapy, 2.4 million units of penicillin G benzathine given intramuscularly in one dose.1 The proportion of patients who were cured with this regimen, however, is not known. No simple test is available that determines cure of syphilis within days (or even weeks) of treatment. To assess treatment, the patient is asked to return for a repeated serological test and clinical evaluation at varying intervals after treatment, usually 3-, 6-, and 12-month visits or until the patient is seronegative. When the serological test results revert to negative, the patient is considered cured. However, when they remain positive, a clinical dilemma arises.

Keywords

Syphilis – Treatment

Disciplines

Clinical Epidemiology | Diseases | Female Urogenital Diseases and Pregnancy Complications | Male Urogenital Diseases | Public Health

Language

English

Permissions

Use Find in Your Library, contact the author, or use interlibrary loan to garner a copy of the article. Publisher copyright policy allows author to archive post-print (author’s final manuscript). When post-print is available or publisher policy changes, the article will be deposited


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