Syphilis

Syphilis cases have sharply increased by 80% over a four-year period in the United States. At Hush Care, an online sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing company serving the entire state of Texas, the skilled medical team screens for, diagnoses, and treats syphilis to lower your risk of severe medical problems and disease transmission. Fill out the discreet online Hush Care intake form today to get started.

What is syphilis?

Syphilis is an STI that spreads from person to person through sexual contact. It’s treatable with medication, but can cause severe medical complications when left untreated. Routine testing and early medical intervention reduce the risk of damage to your brain, heart, bones, muscles, nervous system, and eyes.

What are the symptoms of syphilis?

The following symptoms can indicate syphilis:

• Smooth, hard, and painless genital, anal, or mouth sore(s)
• Bumpy, rough rash all over the body
• Fatigue
• Fever
• Muscle aches
• Sore throat
• Other flu-like symptoms
• Wartlike sores
• Headaches
• Hair loss
• Weight loss
• Swollen lymph nodes

The exact symptoms that syphilis causes depend on the stage of the infection. When left untreated, syphilis enters a latent phase, during which you likely won’t have any symptoms. But the infection can damage your organs and lead to nerve damage, blindness, seizures, muscle problems, or other severe complications.

What are the risk factors for syphilis?

Syphilis risk factors include:

• Having oral, anal, or vaginal sex with an infected partner
• Not using a condom or a dental dam during sex
• Being a man who has sex with other men
• Having multiple sex partners 
• Having human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
• Testing positive for chlamydia, herpes, gonorrhea, or other STIs

Syphilis can spread from an infected mother to her baby during pregnancy or delivery, causing severe health problems for the child. Up to 40% of babies born to mothers with untreated syphilis don’t survive; it increases the risk of premature birth, low birthweight, stillbirth, and miscarriage.

You can contract syphilis through sexual contact and sometimes skin-to-skin contact with someone who has a syphilis sore or rash. Rarely, syphilis spreads through kissing an infected person who has a syphilis sore in their mouth.

However, you can’t get syphilis by touching shared surfaces like doorknobs and toilet seats. 

How is syphilis diagnosed?

Hush Care offers discreet STI testing after you fill out a confidential online intake form. They review the results of your blood test and determine if you have syphilis or other STIs. If so, they provide medication prescriptions that treat or help you better manage your condition.

How is syphilis treated?

Treating syphilis requires antibiotics. Take your medication exactly as instructed. Your partner(s) must also take antibiotics; avoid all sexual activity during treatment. You can contract syphilis again after treatment, so take precautions with any intimate partners to lower your risk of reinfection.

Treating syphilis cures this STI, but any organ damage it caused is probably irreversible. Avoid permanent health complications with early detection and treatment.

Schedule discreet syphilis testing today at Hush Care by filling out the confidential online intake questionnaire.