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Syphilis is a SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED INFECTION that begins as a painless sore.

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Syphilis is acquired whenever one comes in direct contact with a syphilitic sore, also named CHANCRE.

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According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) TREPONEMA PALLIDUM is the PATHOGEN that causes Syphilis.

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The first stage of syphilis involves the development of a sore referred to as a chancre, which is often painless. This occurs anywhere from 10-90 days after infection. If untreated, this progresses into the secondary stage, which involves lesions and the characteristic rash on hands and feet. Left untreated, it will evolve into the latent phase, where the person still carrie the disease, yet with no signs or symptoms.

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Untreated syphilis in pregnant women results in infant death in up to 40 percent of cases.

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Syphilis can invade the nervous system at any stage of infection, and causes a wide range of symptoms, including headache, altered behavior, difficulty coordinating muscle movements, paralysis, sensory deficits, and dementia

Also, Tertiary syphilis is rare and develops in a subset of untreated syphilis infections;, it can appear 10–30 years after infection was first acquired, and it can be fatal. Tertiary syphilis can affect multiple organ systems, including the brain, nerves, eyes, heart, blood vessels, liver, bones, and joints. Symptoms of tertiary syphilis vary depending on the organ system affected.

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The most commonly used drug is a variation of penicillin, depending on what stage the patient is in.  For those patients with an allergy to penicillin, doxycycline may be used, though it is not as effective.

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"During 2019, there were 129,813 reported new diagnoses of syphilis (all stages), compared to 37,968 new diagnoses of HIV infection in 2018 and 616,392 cases of gonorrhea in 2019.1, 2 Of syphilis cases, 38,992 were primary and secondary (P&S) syphilis, the earliest and most transmissible stages of syphilis" (cdc.gov).