Symptoms of Syphilis

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There may be barely noticeable mild symptoms or no symptoms at all. The symptoms of primary syphilis may take up to three months to become evident after sex with an infected person, and typically include:

one or more sores (ulcers) on the penis, vulva, vagina, cervix, mouth or anus, which may be weeping pus and painful, and last for around 6 weeks,
and/or small lumps due to swollen glands in the groin.

The symptoms of secondary syphilis usually appear several weeks, after any ulcers have gone. They can disappear after a few more weeks, but can re-occur for years. Symptoms of this stage include:

a non-itchy rash of dark patches, often on the palms and soles,
feeling generally unwell, fever, extreme tiredness and malaise, headaches,
wart-looking growths on the genitals,
white patches inside the mouth,
patchy hair loss (alopecia),
and more rarely, major body organs such as the liver, kidneys and brain begin to be affected.

Primary and secondary stage syphilis is highly infectious.

The symptoms of the secondary stage may actually disappear and the infection can lie dormant for many years (latent syphilis), but in time tertiary syphilis develops which can seriously damage major body systems and organs.