Until the lesions heal completely, however, a person may still be contagious, so abstention from sex during treatment
is necessary.
If the first and secondary stages go untreated, the disease settles into latency. At this point, the infection does not cause symptoms and circulate in the body for years. The affected individual is still contagious, though they become less so as time passes.
When the bacteria chooses a resting place, the disease enters its tertiary and final stage. At this reappearance, the effects of syphilis are permanent and often fatal. The spirochetes settle somewhere in the body, and begin chewing away at the tissue. Where the bacteria settle dictates the type of damage done. In the brain, tertiary syphilis causes dementia, personality change and paralysis. Spirochetes seem to particularly like to eat away at heart and blood vessel tissue. This often leads to an aneurysm, wherein a weakened part of the tissue balloons out with blood and eventually bursts.
Antibiotics can stop further destruction by the bacteria, but any organ damage is permanent.
2008 Woodie Awards
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