How To Know When You Are Infected With Syphilis As A Man

When it comes to infections that affect men, there are several, but I will dwell more on Syphilis.

Syphilis is a public health issue that is caused by the bacteria called Treponema pallidum. It can be mostly transmitted through sexual intercourse. In some cases, it can be transferred through oral and anal sex.

For men, they can get this infection through direct contact with syphilitic chancres or sores. Often sores appear on the mouth, penis and anus of men.

How To Know When You Are Infected With Syphilis As A Man

There are some misconceptions about how syphilis is contracted which ought to be corrected. These misconceptions are on how syphilis is spread to men, which are through the sharing of the toilet, wearing another person's clothing, hugging, sneezing, coughing and using another person's eating utensils. It is regarded as not true and men should disregard these misconceptions about how it spreads.

Here is a list of men that are likely to contract this infection called Syphilis:

1. Men that have many sexual partners - meaning that these men sleep around with many ladies without any means of protection (condom use).

2. Gay men - These are men that engage in sexual activity with other men.

3. Men that have a weakened immune system - A confirmed HIV-positive client.

4. Men that their partners have syphilis without them knowing.

There are several stages of Syphilis occurring in men, these include:

The Primary stage: There is an occurrence of a small, round sore which is oftentimes painless and it can appear at any location it entered through, whether it was from the mouth, genitals or rectum/anal area. The sores can last from 2 to 6 weeks.

The Secondary stage: There is an appearance of skin rashes which can appear when the primary chancre is healing or several weeks after the chancre heals. Also, men tend to experience a fever before this stage, men tend to have patchy hair loss, their lymph nodes get swollen, and the infected men can also experience headaches among others. Some of these symptoms are often linked with HIV and Hepatitis B virus so the infected man would have to visit the nearest hospital or health care centre for him to get tested. The health care centre could also use HIV/Syphilis dual test kit to run the test for him to confirm the diagnosis.

The Tertiary stage: For this stage, it has to be that the infected men must have had it for more than 10 years without treatment. Thereby, multiple organs in the infected man's system must have been failing at that time.

Ways to prevent syphilis infection in men

1. Before engaging in unprotected sex with a new partner, ensure that you and the lady would have gone through a series of tests to confirm that both of you are free from any form of infection and disease.