syphilis in response to locked post below

[Irish1972]

Hi there,

Just thought I would let you know there is a strain of Syphilis out there that is immune to normal anti-biotics. I am posting this in reponse to the chap in that post about Zorro or something that seems to think that an old injenction of penicillen will do the job.

Just thought I would let you know there is a strain of Syphilis out there that is immune to normal anti-biotics. I am posting this in reponse to the chap in that post about Zorro or something that seems to think that an old injenction of penicillen will do the job.I believe the usual course of treatment for syphilis is a course of daily penicillin injections over a two-week period. It is not a cure, as syphilis remains with the infected person for life. However it removes the "active ingredient" so the disease does not advance to the next stage, or infect others. Anyone having blood tests for syphilis who knows they have been treated should tell the doctor so that a different test is carried out - whether the disease is active or not, rather than whether it is present. And yes, for the prurient, I've had syphilis for the last 20 years

[gearguy]

http://www.cdc.gov/STD/Syphilis/STDFact-Syphilis.htm

Homitern's comments above are misleading.

Syphilis is treatable and curable. See the CDC fact sheet in the link above.

Once treated, syphilis does not remain "with the infected person for life."

Treatment will kill the bacteria that causes syphilis, but it will not reverse any
damage that a infection may have caused.

Resistant syphilis has developed to oral antibiotics which have been prescribed as
an alternative to injections. However intra-muscular penicillian is still an effective
treatment. One injection is usually sufficient but follow up tests are called for and in some
cases additional injections may be needed. Resistant may have developed, esp in HIV patients,
as many patients are on antibiotics as prophylaxis for other potential diseases such as MAC.

http://www.aidsmap.com/en/news/FD0AE97A ... C84026.asp (http://www.aidsmap.com/en/news/FD0AE97A-2411-4CA7-9A0A-EDF8F0C84026.asp)

It is true that even after treatment, levels of anti-bodies may stay in the blood for months or even years. That does not mean that one has an infection; just that one has has an infection in the past. If you were to go for a new test, these antibodies may cause a false-positive result in the standard test. Homitern is correct in saying that if you have had syphilis in the past and were treated for it, tell your doctor. A different test is then done to determine if you have a new active infection or not.

http://www.aidsmap.com/en/news/FD0AE97A ... C84026.asp (http://www.aidsmap.com/en/news/FD0AE97A-2411-4CA7-9A0A-EDF8F0C84026.asp)

I'm off to see the doctor to inform him of his incompetence immediately! You may call the removal of all the active elements a cure nd that's certainly the reassuring news CDC puts out. Nevertheless if you have the most common blood test it will find that you have had active syphilis because it tests for syphilis anti-bodies; another, less common, test is required to show that it is inactive (or, if you prefer, has been cured)

[gearguy]

I am sure your doctor is competent but you are not understanding what he is telling you.

The test is for anti-bodies to syphilis; if you have antibodies, the assumption is, with out other information, that you MAY have be infected with the syphilis bacteria. But, as antibodies exist after syphilis is treated and cured, you may test positive by the antibody test even when not infected. You are confusing the test for antibodies as a test for syphilis infection. This is not the case. The antibody test is used because it is a quick and easy test to perform.

I have polio antibodies in my blood from having been vaccinated. I have never had polio; but by your reasoning I must have inactive polio since a test would reveal polio antibodies.

Same for just about any vaccine or childhood diseases like measles or mumps. I have antibodies to them; does not mean that I have measles or mumps now, even "inactive" form.

See http://www.labtestsonline.org/understan ... /test.html (http://www.labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/syphilis/test.html)
for lots of info on the syphilis test.

I don;t agree with your use of the terms "inactive" and "cured" as synonyms. Syphilis is cured with antibiotics and won't recur unless you are exposed to the bacterium again. For me, 'Inactive" implies that the bacterium is present but not causing a current infection. That is not the case with syphilis; once cured, you will not have another infection unless you are exposed to the bacteria again. Contrast that with the herpes virus which causes cold sores and genital sores. Treatable but not curable.

Syphilis is treatable AND curable.

... gearguy - it's all in the punchline "I've had syphilis for the last 20 years". If you don't tell the story the way I told it, you don't get the punchline. I am (as are all the Homintern Inc. scriptwriters) after that daily spin for the homintern soap opera. It's part of the "personal mythology" - http://sunwalked.wordpress.com/2007/08/ ... ion-whole/ (http://sunwalked.wordpress.com/2007/08/16/story-and-personal-myth-in-making-and-our-selves-and-our-education-whole/)

[gearguy]

you must be in the final stages of syphilitic dementia,

now I see and that explains a lot.

Keep up the good work.

As Joseph Campbell said, myths are an essential part of the human
experience.

... you may not have seen Rowan Atkinson's Blackadder. There's a lovely line where the peon says "We {my family} have been with your family for 200 years", to which Blackadder replies "So has syphilis"

[dave_tf-old]

you must be in the final stages of syphilitic dementia,

now I see and that explains a lot.

Keep up the good work.

It's hard to find a good straight-man on a gay message board. You keep up the good work as well. :cheers:

Another "side effect" of having had syphillis is that (at least in the USA) I am banned from donating blood. I was lucky enough, also, to have had the lovely disease in a day when a statewide list of syphillis carriers was compiled and maintained by the state government. Someone recently told me that list is no longer updated, but that it still exists, i.e. I'm still branded.

[gearguy]

Pretty extensive list: People banned from donating blood
# People who have used intravenous drugs (illegal IV drugs)

# Men who have had sexual contact with other men since 1977

# People who have received clotting factor concentrates

# People with a positive antibody test for HIV (AIDS virus)

# Men and women who have engaged in sex for money or drugs since 1977

# People with hepatitis since his or her eleventh birthday

# People who have had babesiosis (tick-borne malaria like illness or Chagas (parasitic infection) disease

# People who have taken Tegison for psoriasis, removed from approved drug lists in the US because of reports of severe birth defects

# Anyone with risk factors for Crueutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) or who has an immediate family member with CJD

# People with risk factors for vCJD

# Anyone who spent three months or more in the United Kingdom from 1980 through 1996

# Anyone who has been to Europe from 1980 to the present.If you have been to Europe from 1980 to the present, you are ineligible to donate blood through 17 May 2004. After 17 May, you will be able to donate blood as long as you were not in UK for more than 3 months, or 6 months in Eastern / Western Europe between the 1980 to present timeframe.

Source: American Association of Blood Banks