"Acquired Syphilis in Adults: Interactions Between Syphilis and HIV" Infection

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1992. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

"Acquired Syphilis in Adults: Interactions Between Syphilis and HIV" Infection

New England Journal of Medicine (04/16/92) Vol. 326, No. 16, P. 1066
Hook, Edward W. and Marra, Christina M.

Abstract: HIV infection and syphilis interact in a number of ways, write Edward W. Hook and Christina M. Marra of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Md. Syphilitic genital ulcers may facilitate the transmission of HIV. Because HIV is characterized by its slow destruction of the immune system, interactions between the two diseases may also be contingent upon the degree of HIV-related immunosuppression present at the time of contact with syphilis. Case reports indicate that, compared with the clinical manifestations of syphilis in persons who are not coinfected, those patients coinfected with HIV may have an accelerated course of disease. Also, patients with HIV who do not have syphilis are more likely that those not infected with HIV to have false positive reaginic syphilis tests, possibly because of the early presence of apolyclonal B-cell in HIV infection. Because of potential interactions between syphilis and HIV , physicians must reacquaint themselves with the clinical implications, diagnostic methods, and therapy of syphilis, the researchers conclude.

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