Roger-Luc Chayer
This young man seems to you in perfect health? He looks very good and there is nothing to suggest that he has a serious illness that is difficult to treat. Are you surprised? Welcome to reality, because it is with this kind of face that people can knowingly or not transmit diseases as serious as syphilis. Back, then, on a disease that had disappeared in Montreal, which now has records of transmission …
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection in many ways, the most common of which is through bodily fluids that find a gateway to the uninfected person.
It sometimes happens that the infected person, as a first infection, does not even know he is a carrier; she often discovers quickly that she is affected when secondary symptoms appear as a high fever followed by a suspicious and widespread rash. However, there are also people who know they are carriers and who, deliberately, have unprotected sex in order to spread the disease to as many people as possible. These people act totally irresponsibly and should be under judicial control.
That said, according to the Quebec government site http://www.itss.gouv.qc.ca/syphilis.dhtml, this bacterium can be transmitted by mouth and other sexual areas. Shortly after infection, painless ulcers, usually located in the genitals, anus, mouth, or throat, appear. These ulcers heal spontaneously in a few weeks, but the infection remains in the body.
At a later stage of syphilis: flu-like symptoms such as fever, cough, headache, aches and pains, fatigue, nausea and vomiting occur; then redness or pimples appear on the palms of the hands, the soles of the feet or elsewhere on the body; finally, these symptoms disappear spontaneously a few months after their appearance, but the infection remains in the body. Potential health consequences: damage to the heart, brain, bones and liver. There is also an increased risk of contracting or transmitting HIV. Ultimately, the untreated person will develop dementia.
Prevention is an effective weapon, because even if the infection is treated with antibiotics, unlike other infections such as gono or chlamydia, the treatment can last several months and it is absolutely forbidden to have sex during the entire duration of the treatment. Since the disease is also spread through injection syringes, it is strongly recommended that you always use new equipment.
Finally, it is important to know that syphilis is a notifiable disease and that the state is informed as soon as a person is diagnosed. The purpose of this law is to protect the population when threatened and, if required, to control the threat. People who do not seek treatment and who have unprotected sex are therefore subject to police arrest and imprisonment on the one hand for forced treatment, but also on criminal charges that may lead to to long sentences.