syphilis from kissing

[worried321001]

I was just wondering how common it is to get syphilis from french kissing? I recently went to singapore and kissed a bar girl. This happened about three weeks ago and now im worried sick. My throat is sore and there seems to be a sore spot in my esophagus that i cannot see. She did not have any visible sores on her lips, so im just wondering what the probability is that i could have contracted syphilis. Is a sore throat a symptom? Thanks for you answers

[auntiejessi]

Syphilis isn't passed by kissing.  Since you are not feeling well, see your doctor.

Aj

[worried321001]

Thats awsome to hear, but i have read in multiple places that it can be transfered by kissing. Are there any conclusive results that it can or cannot be transfered by kissing? Have you ever head of it being transfered by kissing? Thanks again for your time and dealing with my stupid paranoia.

[auntiejessi]

Here is the CDC fact sheet on syphilis - http://www.cdc.gov/std/syphilis/STDFact-Syphilis.htm  It does not mention kissing.

Here is ASHA's  - http://www.ashastd.org/learn/learn_syphilis.cfm#3  It does not mention kissing.

Some will say its possible, but less common.  Given how uncommon syphilis is, and that's its rare to pass it by kissing, it you can at all, I would say your chances of getting syphilis via kissing are not nearly high enough to worry about.

I personally have never seen anyone get it from kissing.

Aj

[RealMcCopy]

Syphilis
The spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum causes syphilis. The infection develops in distinct stages:

The first symptom is often a painless but highly infectious sore called a chancre. The sore develops from nine to 90 days after exposure and is sometimes accompanied by swollen lymph glands in the groin. Chancres may occur on the genitals or on the mouth, lips, breast, anus, or even the fingertips. The chancre often goes unnoticed in women because it develops inside the vagina. Some infected people never do get a chancre sore. Although a chancre disappears within one to five weeks, the syphilis bacteria remain in the body.

Stage two starts a week to six months later and involves a rash, mouth sores, and/or flu symptoms (headache, mild fever, aching joints). By this time, the bacteria have multiplied and spread, and the disease can be transmitted just by kissing.

Stage three, the latent stage, begins approximately a year after initial infection and lasts 10 to 20 years. There are no noticeable signs of the disease during this period, and after several years the disease is no longer contagious. However, the syphilis bacteria may be silently invading the heart, brain, or other organs.

Stage four is the late stage. Depending on which organs have been attacked, the accumulated damage may cause heart disease, blindness, mental illness, or crippling.

If syphilis is not treated during pregnancy, the mother-to-be may pass the disease on to her baby, and the infant could be born dead, deformed, or diseased.

Before syphilis was curable, it was the most dreaded of the sexually transmitted diseases. The advent of penicillin in the 1940s brought a large and gratifying drop in the syphilis rate. Indeed, the reported rate of syphilis in the United States is now at the lowest level since reporting began in 1941. This unprecedented decline in syphilis, combined with the fact that most cases are concentrated in only 20 percent of U.S. counties, has created a unique but narrow window of opportunity to entirely eliminate syphilis in the United States. In 1999, public health officials unveiled a national plan with precisely that goal.

[auntiejessi]

*Sigh*

I stand by what I said.  If its possible to spread syphilis by kissing, its rare.

That said, if someone has symptoms they are concerned about, they need to see the doctor and test.