Past History Of Syphilis Research Articles

Prevalencia de sífilis en una población de gestantes de dos comunidades de un municipio de Colombia

Objetivo: Estimar la prevalencia de sífilis de una población de gestantes habitantes de las comunidades de La Badea y Frailes del municipio de Dosquebradas (Colombia), intervenidas a través de las prácticas académicas de la Fundación Universitaria Autónoma de la Américas. Metodología: Estudio descriptivo de corte transversal, con muestreo no aleatorio con ajustes por efecto de diseño, de gestantes pertenecientes a un programa de control prenatal. La presencia de sífilis gestacional se determinó mediante pruebas no treponémicas VDRL modificada (Wiener) y pruebas treponémicas (FTA-ABS) confirmatorias para pacientes reactivas. Cada gestante diligenció una encuesta con propósitos de una caracterización social, demográfica y económica. Resultados: De las 101 muestras analizadas, tres gestantes resultaron reactivas a las pruebas no treponémicas (2,97%), dos de ellas confirmadas con pruebas treponémicas. La edad promedio fue de 24 años y el promedio de edad gestacional fue de 20 semanas. Se logró demostrar que el antecedente de sífilis es un factor de riesgo asociado a la sífilis gestacional (OR: 2,8 - IC95: 1,8-7,2). Finalmente, se encontraron Infecciones de Transmisión Sexual (ITS) asociadas, se reportaron dos casos de condilomas, dos casos de gonorrea y un caso de herpes genital. Conclusión: Se encontró una prevalencia de 3% en la población estudiada, la cual se relacionó con el antecedente personal de sífilis. Otras ITS podrían acompañar el diagnóstico de sífilis gestacional, por lo que se recomienda su búsqueda activa ante una paciente con esta enfermedad. No se conoce la real magnitud del problema dado que se presentan múltiples casos de subregistro y subnotificación. La sífilis gestacional aún continúa siendo un problema de salud pública.

Syphilis in the AIDS era: Diagnostic dilemma and therapeutic challenge

This review argues that syphilis has been underdiagnosed and undertreated, a problem that goes back to the beginning of the Wassermann era, and indeed long before. Non-treponemal tests do not detect the larger pool of persons with latent syphilis, the immunological consequences of which have not been systematically investigated in the context of HIV infection and progression to AIDS. Recent efforts to confirm the prevalence of syphilis in high-risk patients by reverse sequence screening, i.e. using a treponemal test first, as the screening test, have revealed untreated syphilis at higher rates than expected. Further testing using PCR discovered even more previously undetected cases. We suggest that latent syphilis is a chronic active immunological condition that drives the AIDS process and cannot be managed with the older Wassermann-based algorithm, and that non-treponemal tests have failed to associate syphilis with immune suppression since this screening concept was developed in 1906. In light of the overwhelming association between a past history of syphilis and HIV seroconversion, more sensitive tools, including recombinant antigen-based immunological tests and direct detection (PCR) technology, are needed to adequately assess the role of latent syphilis in persons with HIV/AIDS. Repeating older syphilis reinoculation studies may help establish a successful animal model for AIDS, and resolve many paradoxes in HIV science.

CARACTeRÍSTICAS CLÍNICAS Y TRATAMIeNTo De LA NeURoSÍFILIS eN UN HoSPITAL PÚBLICo, CALLAo 1997-2007

Objectives. To describe clinical features, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) changes, and therapy of patients with neurosyphilis (NS). Material and methods. This is a retrospective study including patients older than 14 years who met criteria for defining a confirmed or probable case of neurosyphilis according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and who were admitted to a public hospital in Callao, Peru, between 1997 and 2007. Results. Twenty-five patients met criteria for defining NS (22 for confirmed cases and 3 for probable cases). Median age was 40 years, 24 patients (96%) were men, four (16%) had a past history of syphilis, and 15 (60%) had HIV infection. Twenty-one patients (84%) developed symptomatic NS, of which fourteen (67%) had early forms, and this pattern was most commonly seen in HIV-infected patients (p=0.001). Of those patients with CSF data available, 64% (14/22) had pleocytosis and 73% (16/22) high protein levels, and there were no significant differences between patients with and without HIV infection. CSF VDRL tests were reported as reactive in 88% (22/25) of patients. Median CSF VDRL titers were lower in HIV-infected patients (p=0.006), and a higher proportion of HIV-negative patients had CSF VDRL titers ≥1:4 (p=0.02). 72% of patients received high-dose intravenous aqueous crystalline penicillin G. Conclusions. The majority of patients with NS had HIV infection. Early NS was more common than late NS and the CSF VDRL titers were lower in HIV-infected patients. High-dose intravenous penicillin was the most frequently used therapy.

A Staff Dialogue on a Socially Distanced Patient: Psychosocial Issues Faced by Patients, Their Families, and Caregivers

Shortly before his death in 1995, Kenneth B. Schwartz, a cancer patient at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), founded The Kenneth B. Schwartz Center at MGH. The Schwartz Center is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting and advancing compassionate health care delivery, which provides hope to the patient, support to caregivers, and encourages the healing process. The center sponsors the Schwartz Center Rounds, a monthly multidisciplinary forum where caregivers reflect on important psychosocial issues faced by patients, their families, and their caregivers, and gain insight and support from fellow staff members. The following case of an HIV-positive woman who was diagnosed with cervical cancer during a twin pregnancy was discussed at the May, 1999 Schwartz Center Rounds. The patient was in drug rehabilitation having been dependent on crack cocaine, with a past history of syphilis and gonorrhea. She was single and her other children were in foster care. Initially she was suspicious and non-compliant. A plan was negotiated to biopsy the cervical lesion after cesarean section and with confirmation of malignancy she underwent radical surgery and subsequently radiotherapy. Despite the almost insurmountable social and educational distance between her and her caregivers, they managed to bond and facilitate care. Although there were compromises with which staff were uncomfortable, the relationship was maintained and continues.

A Staff Dialogue on a Socially Distanced Patient: Psychosocial Issues Faced by Patients, Their Families, and Caregivers

Abstract Shortly before his death in 1995, Kenneth B. Schwartz, a cancer patient at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), founded The Kenneth B. Schwartz Center at MGH. The Schwartz Center is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting and advancing compassionate health care delivery, which provides hope to the patient, support to caregivers, and encourages the healing process. The center sponsors the Schwartz Center Rounds, a monthly multidisciplinary forum where caregivers reflect on important psychosocial issues faced by patients, their families, and their caregivers, and gain insight and support from fellow staff members. The following case of an HIV-positive woman who was diagnosed with cervical cancer during a twin pregnancy was discussed at the May, 1999 Schwartz Center Rounds. The patient was in drug rehabilitation having been dependant on crack cocaine, with a past history of syphilis and gonorrhea. She was single and her other children were in foster care. Initially she was suspicious and non-compliant. A plan was negotiated to biopsy the cervical lesion after cesarean section and with confirmation of malignancy she underwent radical surgery and subsequently radiotherapy. Despite the almost insurmountable social and educational distance between her and her caregivers, they managed to bond and facilitate care. Although there were compromises with which staff were uncomfortable, the relationship was maintained and continues.

Factors correlated with homosexually acquired human immunodeficiency virus infection in the era of "safer sex". Was the prevention message clear and well understood? Alain Brugeat Physician Group.

A cross-sectional survey was conducted between November 1986 and January 1988 among 246 homosexual/bisexual patients by consulting physicians promoting human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection prevention, to determine factors correlated with HIV infection a few years after the launch of safer sex recommendations. After adjustment for numbers of sexual partners and frequency of unprotected receptive anal intercourse, seropositive subjects, compared to seronegative ones, had significantly higher frequencies of: (1) receptive anal intercourse using condoms and extraneous lubricants, (2) anorectal douching before or after intercourse, (3) past history of syphilis, and (4) nitrite inhalations. The first three factors remained significant after multivariate analysis. Eighty-three percent of the subjects practicing receptive anal intercourse with condoms plus lubricants used inappropriate lubricants. Some factors identified in our study are well established risk factors for homosexually acquired HIV infection, suggesting that safer sex recommendations still are not followed by all. Our results also elicit additional factors that independently increase the risk. Two of them, extraneous lubrication of the condom for anal receptive intercourse and anorectal douching, may result from a misunderstood notion of "safer sex," or from practices thought by mistake to protect against HIV.

Serologic Response to Treatment of Infectious Syphilis

To evaluate the serologic response to treatment of patients with infectious syphilis. Historical cohort study of all cases of infectious syphilis in Alberta from 1981 to 1987. A total of 1090 patients were entered; 857 with primary syphilis, 183 with secondary syphilis, and 50 with early latent disease. Two hundred and eight patients were excluded who either were pregnant, had negative serologic results before treatment, had clinical relapse, were treatment failures, or were lost to follow-up. All 882 evaluable patients were treated with a recommended antibiotic regimen for infectious syphilis and returned for re-assessment including repeat serologic testing. Seventy-two percent (95% CI, 66% to 77%) and 56% (CI, 43% to 70%) of patients with initial episodes of primary or secondary syphilis had seroreverted according to rapid plasma reagin (RPR) test results by 36 months. A 2- and 3-tube decline was seen by 6 and 12 months in primary and secondary syphilis. Early latent syphilis resulted in only a 2-tube decrease at 12 months. Serologic response was not affected by sex, age, race, or sexual orientation. Patients with their first infection were more likely to experience RPR seroreversal than those with repeat infections. The RPR reversal rates also depended on the pretreatment titer and stage of disease. At 36 months, 24% (CI, 20% to 28%) of patients had nonreactive fluorescent treponemal antibody absorption tests (FTA-Abs), and 13% (CI, 11% to 15%) had nonreactive microhemoglutination tests for Treponema pallidum (MHA-TP). Adequate therapeutic response for syphilis must be based on illness episode and the pretreatment RPR titer. Treponemal tests can demonstrate seroreversion after 36 months, and a negative treponemal test does not rule out a past history of syphilis.

A giant placenta: A case report

This is a case report of an unusually large placenta, weight 1,984 grams, associated with infant anomalies in a woman with a past history of syphilis who, at the time of delivery, was cured of this infection.

Altitudinal anopsia following thoracoplasty.

A case of bilateral inferior altitudinal anopsia is presented because of its infrequency and its sudden onset following a major operation. Anoxia of the superior lip of the calcarine fissure bilaterally is suggested as the probable cause. L. R. L., a business man aged 45, white, was referred by Dr. Seymour Farber because of poor vision following a second-stage thoracoplasty three and one-half months earlier. There was a past history of syphilis in 1931, which was treated for one year with arsphenamine and cured, He also gave a history of being on a starvation diet in a Japanese prison camp from 1942 to 1945. Pulmonary tuberculosis was diagnosed in 1949, and, after a year in the Hassler Health Home, he was transferred to the San Francisco Hospital for surgical treatment. On Aug. 16, 1950, a first-stage thoracoplasty was performed, with the use of nitrous oxideether anesthesia. The operation took four

A STUDY OF THE WASSERMANN REACTION IN ONE HUNDRED INFANTS

In an article entitled "The Wassermann Reaction in Children and Infants," Churchill¹states that a positive serum reaction was found in thirty-nine of 101 children examined. The cases were taken "mostly at random" from a large hospital for children. There was a family or past history of syphilis, or signs of the disease, together with a positive serum reaction in twenty-nine of these cases. In the ten other cases, the serum reaction was positive without a history of or evidences suggestive of syphilitic infection. The technic used in some of the cases was that recommended by Wassermann, but in the majority the Noguchi modification was employed. Churchill was surprised to find so large a number of positive serum reactions in children apparently free from syphilis, but he wisely suggested that further studies were necessary before valid conclusions as to the incidence of latent hereditary syphilis could be drawn. <h3>AUTHORS'</h3>