Syphilis is a severe sexually transmitted disease that is transmitted sexually, through the blood, and from mother to fetus during pregnancy. Cases of household transmission of the pathogen have been described, but this happens very rarely. The severity of the disease is due to a low-specific clinical picture at the first and second stages and significant damage to internal organs at the third stage.
Considering the scanty symptoms of the disease at the initial stages of development (although a hard chancre is a fairly typical sign, nevertheless, the patient hides its presence or even when contacting a doctor - it is not recognized in time, mistaking it for a chronic ulcer), a preventive study is of great relevance.
Today, RPR-method (rapid plasma reagin), better known as micro-precipitation reaction (MRP), is used for mass examination. This non-treponemal method consists in detecting antibodies that are produced by the human immune system against specific particles of the bacterial cell wall and membranes of their intracellular structures (mitochondria).
Indications for the appointment of RPR:
Personal desire (including anonymous);
Pregnancy;
Planning for surgery or other invasive procedures
Preventive examination by doctors and other professions in contact with people;
Contact with infected people;
Birth from a sick mother;
The presence of suspicious symptoms (any ulcers on the genitals);
The presence of other STIs;
Monitoring the effectiveness of treatment.
In case of a positive response (positive reaction), treponemal tests (anti-Treponema Pallidum) are prescribed, which are more sensitive and allow to exclude false positive or false negative results. These tests are aimed at detecting antibodies directed directly to the pathogen itself (Treponema Pallidum), but they are more costly and time consuming.
The RPR method for diagnosing syphilis is widely available and has a high specificity; therefore, it is considered the primary and reliable tool in the timely detection of treponemal infection.
