Neurosyphilis follows a more aggressive and different clinical course in HIV-infected patients compared to patients with normal immunity. Two historical series of patients with a diagnosis of neurosyphilis between 1995 and 2008 were compared: they included a group of 15 patients with y and 28 patients without HIV infection. Probability of neurosyphilis in patients with positive serum VDRL was i...

BACKGROUND Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease caused by Treponema pallium. The invasion of the central nervous system is observed in 5-10% of untreated patients and may occur at any stage of the disease. The diagnosis of the early stage of syphilitic infection is complex as many patients present either nonspecific symptoms or are asymptomatic. The identification of the most common radio...

BACKGROUND Neurosyphilis might be difficult to diagnose particularly in asymptomatic patients and patients with HIV-coinfection. The objective of this study was to evaluate current diagnostic standards for neurosyphilis in HIV-positive and -negative patients. METHODS We studied retrospectively patients with an active syphilis infection who had additionally undergone lumbar puncture. Patients ...

We report a unique and illustrative case of a 52-year-old man with neurosyphilis presenting as subacute hemichorea, and discuss a vascular, metabolic or inflammatory origin. A broad range of neurological findings may be linked to neurosyphilis, potentially complicating its diagnosis. We propose that new onset lateralized movement disorders may constitute the initial clinical presentations of ne...

Syphilis is a generally sexually transmitted and multisystem disease caused by the spirochete Treponema pallidum. All of the organs of the body may be involved during the course of the disease. Neurosyphilis is a clinical form of syphilis with central nervous system (CNS) involvement. While primarily meningeal and vascular structures are involved in early neurosyphilis, parenchymal regions of t...

OBJECTIVE To review the nature of the presentation of neurosyphilis, the value of diagnostic tests, and the classification of the disease. METHODS A retrospective review was carried out of the records of patients who had been identified as possible cases of neurosyphilis by a positive FTA-abs test in the CSF. The review extended over 10 years at a single hospital which served a population of ...

GOAL To describe clinical and laboratory features of human immunodeficiency infection (HIV)-infected patients with neurosyphilis. STUDY DESIGN Retrospective study of 27 consecutive cases of HIV-infected patients with a positive Venereal Disease Research Laboratory (VDRL) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). RESULTS Median of age was 36 years and 89% were men. Ten (37%) patients had previous nonneu...

BACKGROUND This article reports a rare case of active neurosyphilis in a man with mild to moderate dementia and marked hippocampal atrophy, mimicking early onset Alzheimer's disease. Few cases have so far described bilateral hippocampal atrophy mimicking Alzheimer's disease in neurosyphilis. CASE PRESENTATION The patient presented here is a 33 year old Bulgarian male, whose clinical features ...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES The clinical diagnosis of neurosyphilis is very rarely encountered today in the developed world although syphilis remains a significant health problem in few areas of the industrialized countries and in most of the third world nations. This apparent decline may be due to increase in number of asymptomatic neurosyphilis and cases presenting as subtle, illdefined syndrom...

Due to challenges in diagnosis and the need for complex laboratory tests, misdiagnosis of neurosyphilis and tertiary syphilis is common in China. We validated the diagnosis and examined the treatment of late neurosyphilis and tertiary syphilis in Guangdong Province, China. A cross-sectional study was conducted to collect data from late neurosyphilis and tertiary syphilis cases reported between ...