Letters20 March 2012Occupational Syphilis Following Scalpel InjuryJan D. Raguse, MD, Christian Camerer, MD, Frank Bergmann, MD, Christiane Schewe, MD, and Dirk Schürmann, MDJan D. Raguse, MDFrom Charité|Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin 13353, Germany.Search for more papers by this author, Christian Camerer, MDFrom Charité|Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin 13353, Germany.Search for more papers by this author, Frank Bergmann, MDFrom Charité|Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin 13353, Germany.Search for more papers by this author, Christiane Schewe, MDFrom Charité|Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin 13353, Germany.Search for more papers by this author, and Dirk Schürmann, MDFrom Charité|Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin 13353, Germany.Search for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-156-6-201203200-00021 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail Background: Previous reports have described many cases of occupational syphilis in health care personnel, but virtually all such reports were published before 1950 (1). In those reports, contact with a mucosal lesion was the most frequent route of transmission, but injuries from sharp devices were also reported to be routes of transmission (1).Education and prevention have made occurrences of occupational syphilis exceedingly rare (1). A review of the literature (2) found only 1 report of transmission through sharps injury. That report, however, did not involve a health care worker but a family caregiver who stuck herself with a needle ...