Syphilis Treatment and Care
Guidelines, Research, & Updates
- Reverse Sequence Syphilis Screening Webinar – Archive and slides available and CME information (April 14, 2011)
- Discordant Results from Reverse Sequence Syphilis Screening --- Five Laboratories, United States, 2006--2010
- MMWR February 11, 2011
- Dear Colleague Letter (February 10, 2011)
- Recent Press Coverage of MMWR on Syphilis (February 16, 2011)
- 2010 STD Treatment Guidelines - Syphilis- new information regarding the emergence of azithromycin-resistant Treponema pallidum and the criteria for spinal fluid examination to evaluate for neurosyphilis (December 16, 2010)
What is the treatment for syphilis?
Syphilis is easy to cure in its early stages. A single intramuscular injection of penicillin, an antibiotic, will cure a person who has had syphilis for less than a year. Additional doses are needed to treat someone who has had syphilis for longer than a year. For people who are allergic to penicillin, other antibiotics are available to treat syphilis. There are no home remedies or over-the-counter drugs that will cure syphilis. Treatment will kill the syphilis bacterium and prevent further damage, but it will not repair damage already done.
Because effective treatment is available, it is important that persons be screened for syphilis on an on-going basis if their sexual behaviors put them at risk for STDs.
Persons who receive syphilis treatment must abstain from sexual contact with new partners until the syphilis sores are completely healed. Persons with syphilis must notify their sex partners so that they also can be tested and receive treatment if necessary.
Related Pages
Contact Us:
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
1600 Clifton Rd
Atlanta, GA 30333 - 800-CDC-INFO
(800-232-4636)
TTY: (888) 232-6348 - Contact CDC-INFO
