ABSTRACT
Objective To analyze the reasons of misdiagnosis of primary syphilitic chancre and strengthen the understanding of atypical features of this disease. Methods A case series of twenty-seven challenging primary syphilis patients who were not immediately recognized as chancre was included in our study. The clinical data including the patients' age, sex, skin lesions, HIV status, syphilis serologic test results, treatment, and follow-up results were collected. Hematoxylin-eosin and immunohistochemistry staining of skin biopsy sections were reviewed. Results Four female cases with extragenital chancres presenting as erythema or erosive skin lesions on the nipple were misdiagnosed as Paget's disease or eczema. The disorder of missed or misdiagnosed male cases manifested as syphilitic balanitis or multiple chancres on the penis root and adjacent pubis rather than coronal sulcus or frenum. Patients with nonreactive nontreponemal tests at initial presentation were also easily missed or misdiagnosed. Conclusion Primary syphilis presenting as multiple lesions rather than a single chancre, at atypical locations, or with a nonreactive nontreponemal test result, tends to be missed or misdiagnosed.
Subject(s)
Female , Humans , Male , Chancre/diagnosis , Nipples , Skin , Syphilis/diagnosisABSTRACT
The high signal intensities in bilateral mesiotemporal lobes on T2-weighted images are typical findings of herpes encephalitis or paraneoplastic limbic encephalitis. We report a case of neurosyphilis with mesiotemporal involvement on MRI. Positive antibodies in the cerebrospinal fluid confirmed the diagnosis. The results suggest that neurosyphilis should be considered when MRI results indicate mesiotemporal abnormalities.
Subject(s)
Adult , Humans , Male , Anti-Bacterial Agents/administration & dosage , Biopsy, Needle , Chancre/diagnosis , Diagnosis, Differential , Encephalitis, Herpes Simplex/diagnosis , Follow-Up Studies , Limbic Encephalitis/diagnosis , Magnetic Resonance Imaging/methods , Neurosyphilis/diagnosis , Penicillins/administration & dosage , Rare Diseases , Temporal Lobe/pathology , Tongue/pathologyABSTRACT
En el periodo comprendido de enero a diciembre de 1990 tuvimos la ocasion de observar por primera vez en nuestro hospital un brote epidemico de chancro blando en 55 pacientes incluidos entre otros 142 pacientes con diferentes sexualmente transmitibles. En 22 de ellos el diagnostico clinico fue confirmado por examen directo y cultivo de agar chocolate, 20 correspondian al sexo masculino y 2 al femenino. Las caracteristicas de todos los pacientes eran similares a los reportados en la literatura. En algunos casos observamos asociacion con otras enfermedades de transmision sexual. Este es el primer reporte de chancro blando observado en nuestro pais y aparecido con caracter epidemico coincidente con un aumento en la frecuencia de la enfermedad a nivel mundial. El tratamiento con eritromicina o co-trimoxozol resulto exitoso para la totalidad de los casos utilizados