Microbiol Spectr: Homogeneity of different parts of the body of a subspecies of Treponema pallidum in male infected patients with syphilis

Syphilis is a multi-stage transmission of the treponemal subspecies pallidum (TP) caused by treponemal syphilis

Sexual transmission usually occurs during the first year of infection during the primary, secondary and early incubation periods

Bacterial typing is usually most successful on cultured strains, from which a large amount of specific bacterial DNA

The aim of this study was to investigate possible intra-patient TP strain variants and assess possible associations with specific body locations

The study included 162 male patients with syphilis who visited the Amsterdam Centre for Sexual Health between 2018 and 2019 and had TP DNA

The Venn diagram shows the number of patients with TP DNA detected by anatomical location and the number of patients who obtained peripheral blood (B) of type TP in 93 patients with at least one type of typing sample

An overview of 162 patients enrolled in the SHC in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, between 2018 and 2019, patients with two or more acquired TP-MLST types in different anatomical locations (n = 12).

Can be obtained from at least one anatomical site or from a peripheral blood typing sample (119/287) from 93/162 (57%) patients, including: 48 cases (52%) primary syphilis, 35 cases (38%) secondary syphilis, and 10 cases (11%) early incubation syphilis

There was no difference in the distribution of TP-MLST typing in patients with different syphilis stages

Source: Zondag HCA, Nieuwenburg SA, Himschoot M, PallidumTreponema pallidum Subspecies Intrapatient Homogeneity at Various Body Locations in Men with Infectious Syphilis.