I'm certain that the patient before me was a HIV infected man, and he was there to show his finger to the dr, and the dr said it was syphilis and asked him to have a test. When he left, I sat on the chair that he just sat, and I touched the table, too. When waiting to have my blood drawing, I took out my cellphone to send some message.
I read that a lot of bacteria and germs can survive on one's cellphone, making it dirty and contaminated. Can't treponema pallidum survive on it for several hours?
No, STD's have that name for a reason.