Sexually Transmitted Disease
The Child Abuse Team at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center provides the following table as a guide for health care professionals in interpreting laboratory test results for Syphilis, Treponema Pallidum.
| Infection Sites | Primary infection causes a painless ulcer at the site of contact. |
Incubation Period
and Symptoms | Primary infection usually occurs about three weeks after infection (range from 10 to 90 days). Secondary syphilis causes rash, fever, and other symptoms one to two months later. Condyloma latum, a wart-like rash, may be seen around the anus and vagina. |
| Transmission | Perinatal infection often occurs. It is routine practice in newborn nurseries to screen for maternal syphilis at the time of delivery. Infection is almost always spread by direct sexual contact. Non-sexual transmission, other than perinatal infection, would be extremely unusual. Infection should be presumed to be through sexual abuse unless acquired by perinatal (congenital) infection. |
| Diagnostic Tests | Although definitive diagnosis can be made by microscopic identification, adequate specimens are usually not available for this type of testing. Most cases of syphilis are diagnosed through serologic blood tests. A presumptive diagnosis of syphilis can be made if there is a positive non-treponemal test (RPR, VDRL, or ART) and a positive treponemal tests (FTA-ABS or MHA-TP). |
