There are no home remedies or over-the-counter drugs that will cure syphilis, but syphilis is easy to cure in its early stages. A single intramuscular injection of long acting Benzathine penicillin G (2.4 million units administered intramuscularly) will cure a person who has primary, secondary or early latent syphilis.

Therefore, the term ‘syphilis’ was introduced by Girolamo Fracastoro, a poet and medical personality in Verona. His work “Syphilis sive Morbus Gallicus” (1530) encompasses three books and presents a character named Syphilus, who was a shepherd leading the flocks of King Alcihtous, a character from Greek mythology.

The cause of syphilis is a bacterium called Treponema pallidum. The most common route of transmission is through contact with an infected person’s sore during sexual activity. The bacteria enter your body through minor cuts or abrasions in your skin or mucous membranes.

Gummatous syphilis is characterized by granulomatous lesions, called gummas, which are characterized by a center of necrotic tissue with a rubbery texture. Gummas principally form in the liver, bones, and testes but may affect any organ.

The combination of oral amoxicillin 3 g plus probenecid was highly effective and tolerable for the treatment of syphilis in patients with HIV-1 infection.

Testing for neurosyphilis

• Physical exam. To find out if you have neurosyphilis, your doctor may start by checking your normal muscle reflexes and determining whether any of your muscles have atrophied (lost muscle tissue).
• Blood test. A blood test can detect middle-stage neurosyphilis.
• Spinal tap.
• Imaging tests.

The diagnosis of neurosyphilis depends on a combination of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) tests (CSF cell count or protein and a reactive CSF-VDRL) in the presence of reactive serologic test results and neurologic signs and symptoms.

Individuals with asymptomatic neurosyphilis or meningeal neurosyphilis usually return to normal health. People with meningovascular syphilis, general paresis, or tabes dorsalis usually do not return to normal health, although they may get much better.

Shortly after infection occurs, the body produces syphilis antibodies that can be detected by a blood test. Even after full treatment, antibodies to syphilis remain in the blood and may be detectable for many years after the infection has gone.

Fact: “Before there were [effective] treatments for syphilis, which are antibiotics, some very famous people had end-stage syphilis, and one of the symptoms of that is actually insanity,” says Bogart. But today syphilis is completely curable, especially if it is diagnosed and treated early in the course of the illness.