Reinfection primary, secondary, and latent syphilis: the serologic response after treatment

Sex Transm Dis. 1980 Jul-Sep;7(3):111-5. doi: 10.1097/00007435-198007000-00003.

Abstract

An infection with Treponema pallidum does not confer solid immunity to reinfection. Consequently, it is not unusual for the physician to see a patient with reinfection syphilis. In this study there were 36 patients who, after having an initial infection with T. pallidum, became reinfected with the primary, secondary, or latent stage of syphilis. The titers of antibody to T. pallidum during reinfection were consistently higher than those during the first infection, and the serologic responses to treatment were always slower.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Antibodies, Bacterial / analysis
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Penicillin G Benzathine / administration & dosage
  • Recurrence
  • Syphilis / drug therapy
  • Syphilis / immunology*
  • Syphilis, Congenital / immunology
  • Syphilis, Latent / immunology*

Substances

  • Antibodies, Bacterial
  • Penicillin G Benzathine