Syphilis and Chemotherapy
Syphilis, once responsible for devastating epidemics, is caused by Treponema pallidum bacteria which is very fragile, and infection is almost always transmitted by sexual contact with an infected person. The bacteria spreads from the initial ulcer of an infected person in skin or mucous membranes of the genital area, mouth or anus of an uninfected partner. You can also pass through broken skin on other parts of the body. In addition, a pregnant woman with syphilis can transmit the bacteria T. pallidum to her unborn child, who may be born with serious mental and physical problems as a result of infection.
The initial infection causes an ulcer at the site of infection. Bacteria, however, move throughout the body, damaging many organs over time. Medical experts describe the course of the disease by dividing into four stages: primary, secondary, latent and tertiary (Late). An infected person has not been treated may infect others during the first two stages, which usually last 1 to 2 years. In its final stages, untreated syphilis, although not contagious, can cause serious heart abnormalities, mental disorders, blindness, other neurological problems, and death.
The first symptom of primary syphilis is an ulcer called a chancre ("shan-ker"). The chancre can appear within 10 days to 3 months after exposure, but usually appear within 2 to 6 weeks. Because the chancre may be painless and may occur within the body, the infected person may not notice. Usually found on the body part exposed to the infected partner's ulcer. The chancre disappears within a couple of weeks if a person is treated. If not treated during the primary stage, about third of people will go to the chronic phase.
A rash, with brown sores about the size of a penny, often marks the second stage chronic syphilis. The rash appears anywhere from 3 to 6 weeks after the chancre appears. While the rash may cover the whole body or appear only in some areas is almost always in the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. Because active bacteria are present in the sores, any physical contact with broken skin an infected person can transmit the infection at this time. The rash usually heals within several weeks or months. Other symptoms may also occur, such as fever mild fatigue, headache, sore throat, irregular hair loss, swollen lymph nodes and throughout the body. These symptoms can be very mild and, like the chancre of primary syphilis, will disappear without treatment. The signs of secondary syphilis may come and go in the next 1 to 2 years of disease. If untreated syphilis can fall into a latent stage during which the disease is not contagious and no symptoms are present. Many people who suffer from untreated no plus sign and symptoms of the disease. About a third of people who have had secondary syphilis have been able to develop the complications of late or tertiary syphilis, in which the bacteria damage the heart, eyes, brain, nervous system, bones, joints, or almost any other body part. This stage can last for years or even decades. Late syphilis can result in mental illness, blindness, other neurologic problems, heart disease, and death. Syphilis is sometimes called "the great imitator" because its early symptoms are similar to those of many other diseases. People sexually active should consult a doctor or other health professional about any rash or sore in the genital area.
The doctor usually uses all the tried and tested methods to diagnose syphilis and decide upon the stage of infection. Blood tests also provide evidence of infection, although they may give false negative results (showing no signs of infection despite its presence) for up to 3 months after infection. False positives (Showing signs of an infection when not present) may also occur. Therefore, two blood tests are generally used. Interpretation of blood tests for syphilis may be difficult, and repeated tests are sometimes necessary to confirm the diagnosis.
Unfortunately, the first symptoms of syphilis can be very mild, and many people do not seek treatment when they first become infected. Doctors usually treat patients with syphilis with penicillin, administered by injection. They use other antibiotics for patients allergic to penicillin. A person usually can no longer transmit syphilis 24 hours after starting treatment. Some people, however, do not respond to usual doses of penicillin. Therefore, it is important that people receiving treatment for syphilis have periodic blood tests to check that the infectious agent has been completely destroyed. People with neurosyphilis may need to be analyzed again for up to 2 years after treatment. At all stages of syphilis, proper treatment to cure the disease. But in late syphilis, damage already done to body organs can not be reversed.
A pregnant woman with untreated syphilis, active is likely to pass the infection to her baby unborn. In addition, miscarriage may occur in up to 25 to 50 percent of women acutely infected with syphilis during pregnancy. Between 40 and 70 percent women with active syphilis will give birth to a child infected with syphilis. Some babies with congenital syphilis may have symptoms at birth, but most symptoms between 2 weeks and 3 months later. These symptoms may include skin ulcers, rashes, fever, weakened or hoarse crying sounds, inflammation of the liver and spleen, yellowish skin (jaundice), anemia, various people, etc. who care deformities of babies with congenital syphilis must use special precautions because of the wet sores are infectious. In rare cases, symptoms of syphilis go undetected in infants. As infants become infected older children and adolescents, may develop symptoms of late-stage syphilis, including damage to bones, teeth, eyes, ears and brains.
Syphilis bacteria frequently invade the nervous system during the early stages of infection. Approximately 3 to 7 percent of people with untreated syphilis develop neurosyphilis, a sometimes serious disorder of the nervous system. Some people with neurosyphilis never develop any symptoms. Other may have headache, stiff neck and fever that result from inflammation of the lining of the brain. Some people develop seizures. People whose vessels blood are affected may develop symptoms of stroke with numbness, weakness or visual problems. Neurosyphilis may be more difficult treat, and its course may be different in people with HIV or AIDS.
The open sores of syphilis may be visible and infectious during the active phase of infection. Any contact with these infectious sores and other tissues and body fluids should be avoided to prevent the spread of the disease. As with many other sexually transmitted diseases, use of male latex condoms correctly during sexual intercourse may give some protection against disease. Detection and treatment of infected individuals, or secondary prevention, is one of the few options for the prevention of advanced stages of disease. Tests and treatment early in pregnancy are the best ways to prevent syphilis in infants and should be a routine part of prenatal care.
Bearing in tune with your disease or condition not only makes treatment less intimidating but also increases your chance of success, and has been shown to reduce the patients' risk of complications. Moreover, as an informed patient, who are more able to talk about their condition and treatment options with your doctor.
While they are well written, with the harsh reality that many of arsenic and its compounds are toxic deaths, it is worth mentioning that arsenic also been used as a protector of life. In the nineteenth century, physicians had no means to fight infection, and patients usually had no luck but to die. The nature of medicine, however, changed in 1863 when French scientists, to be champions, noted that an arsenic compound was toxic to some microorganisms. Paul Ehrlich, a German scientist, decided to synthesize new compounds of arsenic, testing each one for your body's ability to kill.
Discharged from the hospital in charge of Berlin in the second half of the 19th century to oppose the primitive medical treatments prescribed by his superiors, Dr. Paul Ehrlich spent to develop a dye that defines the tuberculosis bacillus. For their achievement, Ehrlich received a position by the famous research of Dr. Robert Koch, bacteriologist. Ehrlich exposure to tuberculosis has infected him with the disease, however, and was forced to travel to Egypt for his health. There, while treatment of a victim of snakebite, who conceived the idea of combating toxins, and on his return to Germany, Ehrlich worked with his friend, Dr. Emil von Behring, to develop a serum for diphtheria. After development of a vaccine that stops the diphtheria epidemic, Ehrlich continued his dream of finding a bullet bullet "to destroy invading microbes. He spent fifteen years developing a theory of how nature against the disease, and for his efforts was awarded the Nobel Prize and an institute in which to work. There he launched a series of experiments applied his theory to the task of curing the disease, but their efforts were attacked by a recalcitrant medical community, led by his old friend Behring.
Attacked on two fronts, Ehrlich worked to develop a cure for syphilis, while striving to keep its budget intact. When your budget is halved, he turned to the rich widow Franziska Speyer for funding. Six hundred-and-six experiments later, he discovers a cure for syphilis, and the hope of saving lives, was persuaded to release the formula before testing was completed. To be attacked when some patients died from adverse reactions, Ehrlich was finally vindicated in a trial led by Behring. Although the fight drained from Ehrlich paid health and the development of his miraculous cure to the cost of his own life, through his extensive study of the effects of chemicals in the human body, the father of the fields Ehrlich of chemotherapy and hematology. He also made important contributions to the understanding of immunity and discovered salvarsan, the first treatment effective in syphilis. Chemotherapy also offers a line of attack against cancerous tissues. And it all started with an arsenic compound.
As an indication of arsenic has been made, may not be out of context to give a passing reference to the chemistry of arsenic to the evident intentions, focusing on conceptual clarity of the readers. Arsenic, a highly poisonous semimetallic element, is intermediate between metals and nonmetals. Arsenic has been known since antiquity. Arsenic occurs frequently in place of some of the sulfur in the sulfides are the main minerals of many heavy metals. Arsenic is sometimes used in the manufacture of such military poison gases as lewisite and adamsite. Until the introduction of sulfa drugs arsenic is of great importance in the treatment of the dreaded disease syphilis. While medicinal uses has been displaced by sulfa drugs or antibiotics, lead arsenate, calcium arsenate, Paris green and are widely used as insecticides.
Arsenic is poisonous in doses significantly higher than 65 mg (1 grain), and poisoning may arise from a large dose single or repeated small doses, for example, inhalation of fumes or dust arsenic. On the other hand, some people, especially the so-called "dining arsenic "from the mountains of southern Austria, have discovered that arsenic has a tonic effect and have built a tolerance for that, so you can eat each day an amount that would normally be a fatal dose. This tolerance, however, does not protect against the same amount of arsenic administered hypodermic.
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