Syphilis

an acute and chronic infectious disease caused by Treponema pallidum and transmitted by direct contact, usually through sexual intercourse

Description
After an incubation period of 12 to 30 days, the first sign of syphylis is a chancre (a painless, indurated ulcer), followed by slight fever and other constitutional symptoms (primary syphilis), followed by a skin eruption of various appearances with mucous patches and generalized lymphadenopathy (secondary syphilis), and subsequently by the formation of gummas, cellular infiltration, and functional abnormalities usually resulting from cardiovascular and central nervous system lesions (tertiary syphilis). As the disease agent is a spirochetal bacterium, treatment with antibiotics is usually effective and should be initiated at early stages of the disease to avoid permanent damage and even fatality upon disease progression.