Two sexually transmitted disease, AIDS and syphilis, can cause serious health problems. A bacterium called Treponema pallidum causes syphilis, while AIDS results from the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV. AIDS does not have a cure. While doctors can treat syphilis with an antibiotic, more advanced syphilis can result in debilitating problems.
Statistics
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that in the United States, an estimated 56,300 people become infected with HIV and more than 18,000 people die from AIDS each year. MedlinePlus adds that AIDS is the sixth most common cause of death in 25- to 44-year-old Americans. In 2006 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention received reports of over 36,000 syphilis cases. Syphilis commonly occurs in people ages 20 to 29.
Stages
Both AIDS and syphilis have different stages. AIDS, for example, is the final stage of HIV. The Mayo Clinic points out that patients go through an early infection, then a later infection before reaching AIDS. Syphilis has three stages that grow progressively worse. With primary syphilis, patients have sores that form two to three weeks after the infection. MedlinePlus notes that secondary syphilis starts two to eight weeks after the formation of the sores. In the last stage of syphilis, tertiary syphilis, the disease spreads to the brain, bones, nerves, heart and skin.
Diagnosis
A doctor will run different tests to diagnose syphilis or AIDS. With syphilis, the doctor will perform a blood test, such as the VDRL test, which measures the antibodies produced by Treponema pallidum. Another option for a blood test is the RPR test, which also screens for antibodies. If a person has a positive VDRL or RPR test, the doctor will then do a FTA-ABS test, which confirms the diagnosis. A doctor will also use a blood test for AIDS, such as the ELISA and Western blot. These two tests screen for the antibodies of HIV. MedlinePlus points out that a doctor will diagnose a person with AIDS if his CD4 count, a type of white blood cell, is below 200 cells/mm3.
Treatment
Treatment for AIDS focuses on suppressing the virus, such as with highly active antiretroviral therapy, or HAART. No treatment cures HIV or AIDS. MedlinePlus notes that if an AIDS patient has a low CD4 count, she may take medications to prevent opportunistic infections, such as Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia. Antibiotics, such as penicillin, can treat syphilis. If a patient has an allergy to penicillin, she can take doxycycline instead. To ensure that the antibiotic was effective, the doctor will do followup blood tests on the patient.
Connection
Scientists have studies the connection between AIDS and syphilis. Christopher S. Hall, MD, MS and Gary Bolan, MD, of the University of California San Francisco point out that the genital sores produced by syphilis increase a person's risk of getting HIV if he comes into contact with the virus. The doctors add that an impaired immune system due to AIDS can leave a person more susceptible to syphilis.
