A 23-year-old pregnant woman with left-foot and left-ankle ulceration.
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A 30-year-old bisexual man who was infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and had a history of anaphylaxis to penicillin developed lues maligna, or ulceronodular secondary syphilis. Therapy with parenteral erythromycin failed, and he was subsequently treated with ceftriaxone following penicillin desensitization. A review of the English-language literature identified 14 cases of lues maligna reported between the early 1900s and 1988. From 1989 to 1994, an additional 12 cases (including the current case) were reported. Of those 12 cases, 11 occurred in patients who either were infected with HIV or were at high risk for HIV infection. Patients infected with HIV may be at increased risk of developing this severe form of secondary syphilis. Lues maligna should be considered in the differential diagnosis of HIV-infected patients who present with ulceronodular lesions.
Numerous case reports of atypical and/or severe forms of syphilis in individuals coinfected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have led many authorities to conclude that HIV exacerbates early syphilitic infection. Herein we report prominent osseous and unusual dermatologic manifestations of early syphilis in two individuals whose serostatuses for HIV infection were discordant. Our cases emphasize the need for caution before conclusions are drawn from anecdotal data about the interactions between HIV infection and syphilis.
The currently recommended antibiotic for treatment of fetal syphilis in pregnant women who are allergic to penicillin is erythromycin. However, clindamycin crosses the placenta more effectively than erythromycin. Therefore, an in vivo rabbit model of intradermal syphilomas was used to determine the effect of clindamycin compared with the effects of erythromycin and penicillin on the growth of virulent Treponema pallidum. The average number of motile treponemes in two, paired, mature lesions was determined before and after therapy in groups of four rabbits per dosage. Single intramuscular doses of clindamycin (15 and 40 mg/kg) and erythromycin (12 and 40 mg/kg) did not decrease treponeme counts significantly. Single injections of penicillin (10,000 units/kg) reduced treponemal counts by more than 250-fold. Multiple intramuscular injections of clindamycin reduced counts by five- to sevenfold, whereas multiple doses of erythromycin and penicillin decreased treponeme counts by greater than 300-fold. These studies indicate that clindamycin is far less active than erythromycin or penicillin in treatment of established syphilitic lesions in rabbits.
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A 38-year-old man with HIV infection presented with panuveitis, urethritis, and a papulosquamous eruption on his palms and soles. Careful physical and laboratory examination led to the diagnosis of syphilitic keratoderma, uveitis, and balanitis. The patient was successfully treated with penicillin and prednisone therapy. Because the initial presentation was difficult to distinguish from the symptoms of Reiter's syndrome, a high degree of clinical suspicion was required to accurately diagnose syphilis, a curable and potentially fatal disease.
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It has long been observed that patients with reinfection primary and secondary syphilis have a slower serologic response to treatment than those with an initial infection. The case records of three patients with reinfection primary and seven patients with reinfection secondary syphilis were examined and confirmed the clinical observation.
The clinical manifestations of secondary syphilis are many and varied. Thus the venereologist frequently does not see the common textbook picture of this stage of syphilis. The present history of an atypical case of secondary syphilis illustrates one of the many manifestations of syphilis.
In an otherwise typical case of palmoplantar secondary syphilis, large intact pustules were also present. Spirochetes were demonstrated in these lesions by darkfield microscopy. The distinctive pathologic finding in the pustular lesions was migration of polymorphonuclear leukocytes into the epidermis, with formation of microabscesses. This pattern is the same as that seen in "framboesiform" secondary syphilis and in yaws.
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The signs and symptoms of 105 patients with secondary syphilis were evaluated in a clinic for treatment of sexually transmissible diseases. The symptoms were, in order of decreasing frequency, pruritus, 44 patients; sore throat, 16; headache, nine; muscle aches, nine; fever, five; meningismus, three; loss of scalp hair, three; loss of appetite, two; loss of weight, two; and visual disturbances, one. The dominant morphologic characteristics of the lesions, in order of decreasing frequency, were maculopapular, 73 patients; papular, 13; macular, 10; annular papular, six; papulopustular, two; and psoriasiform papular, one. Almost a fourth of the patients were not aware that they had mucocutaneous lesions, and > 20% of patients had inconspicuous lesions. The distributions and morphologic features of the lesions of eight patients (7.6%) suggested other dermatoses.
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