Tertiary syphilis is the most severe stage of the sexually transmitted disease, causing damage to various parts of the body including the nervous system, brain, and heart. Symptoms can include jerky movements, paralysis, numbness, and dementia. Treatment is most effective in the early stages with antibiotics, but nerve damage in the late stage may not be reversible.
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease (STD) for which there are different stages. A person who has tertiary syphilis has reached an advanced stage of STD. This stage of syphilis is the most severe, and an affected person can suffer a variety of complications from it, including damage to the eyes, hearing, bones, skin, nervous system, and even the heart. In some cases, a person with tertiary syphilis is ultimately disabled, and some people may even die from the disease. Fortunately, if syphilis is caught early, a person may never reach the tertiary stage; a first case of syphilis can usually be treated successfully.
An individual who has tertiary syphilis has typically gone through two stages of the disease, which are referred to as primary and secondary syphilis. While there are symptoms in both of these stages, some people may not seek treatment. In fact, some may decide not to seek medical attention because their symptoms eventually go away. The problem with this is that a person can go a significant amount of time without symptoms and still be infected with syphilis. For example, a person may enter the tertiary stage up to 15 years after a primary infection, and may go through a latent stage in which there are no symptoms before it develops.
It is important to note that some people who have syphilis never develop tertiary stage symptoms. However, up to 30% of infected people develop them. Once this stage is reached, a person can suffer damage to various parts of their body, including the nervous system, brain, and heart. A person’s eyes can be affected, and an individual can even suffer damage to blood vessels and bones. Sometimes an affected person’s liver can also be damaged.
When a person has tertiary syphilis, they can have a variety of symptoms. In some cases, for example, a person with this condition may exhibit jerky movements or experience paralysis in parts of their body. In some cases, numbness is a symptom of tertiary syphilis, and dementia can also occur. An individual with this condition may also go blind gradually. When the damage caused by tertiary syphilis is severe, the complications it causes can even lead to death.
Treatment for tertiary syphilis can depend on how long a person has been infected. Syphilis treatment is most effective when the disease is in its early stages. Antibiotics are typically used in the treatment of syphilis. Unfortunately, however, antibiotics may not prove helpful for nerve damage in the late stage of the disease. Also, drugs cannot repair the damage a person has already suffered from this disease.
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