Syphilis is a bacterial infection caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum. It’s spread by sexual contact—including vaginal, anal, and oral sex—with someone who’s infected. This test won’t be able to tell you the specific site of the infection, but it will be able to detect whether you have this infectious disease.

Should I wait 3 months to get tested? In short, No. We recommend getting tested as soon as you can, STD test kits has come a long way and they are more accurate than ever. You can test as early as 7 days. (Just enough time for our test to arrive at your doorstep). We recommend getting a test as soon as you can and another test in 3 – 6 months.

The accuracy of our Syphilis test kit is >99%.

Private clinics also uses rapid test kits as a preliminary test, similar to our STD / STI test kits.

Syphilis symptoms

A syphilis infection is associated with certain signs and symptoms based on the phase of the infection:

• The earliest—or primary—stage, is associated with a firm, round, painless sore on the genitals. The sore, called a “chancre,” usually goes away after several weeks, even if the infection isn’t treated.
• Untreated syphilis can advance to a secondary stage of infection, which can be characterized by skin rashes, fever, patchy hair loss, headaches, muscle aches, fatigue, and other symptoms.
• The latent stage is the next stage of an untreated syphilis infection. Latent syphilis often occurs without obvious signs or symptoms, but that doesn’t mean the infection has gone away. On the contrary, during the latent syphilis stage, the infection persists in the body—sometimes for years—and can ultimately lead to tertiary syphilis, which damages organ systems like the nervous system, heart, and eyes.

Neurosyphilis

In some cases, syphilis bacteria can attack the nervous system—resulting in “neurosyphilis.” Neurosyphilis—a condition that can develop at any point in a syphilis infection—can lead to severe brain disorders characterized by dementia, loss of muscle coordination, and more.

Because the signs and symptoms of neurosyphilis are similar to those of other disorders, a diagnosis requires lab testing via a lumbar puncture—or “spinal tap” (so spinal fluid can be analyzed). More specifically, in a lumbar puncture, a needle extracts a sample of cerebrospinal fluid from the spinal cord (the system of nerves and vertebrae that runs down the back and transmits signals between the brain and the rest of the body). The cerebrospinal fluid is then checked for syphilis bacteria to determine if the infection has reached the nervous system.

This test is recommended if you:

• Are sexually active and between the ages of 18 and 65
• Have new or multiple sex partners
• Have had unprotected sex with someone at high-risk of STD
• Share or have shared injection drugs needles
• Have symptoms of an STI
• Are concerned you’ve been exposed to an STI
• Have had another STI since your last test
• Have hepatitis or tuberculosis (TB)

Everyone should be screened at least once for Syphilis, between the ages of 15 and 65