RESUMO
OBJECTIVE To study the clinic feature and cause of misdiagnosis of early stage syphilis and evaluate the significance of histopathology in the diagnosis of the disease. METHODS Totally 1 200 early syphilis cases were analyzed.The serologic test for syphilis was performed.Thirty five of them were performed with histopathological examination. RESULTS The primary syphilis was found to be commonly misdiagnosed as chancroid,genital herpes,scabies nodules and ulcus vulvae acutum.For secondary syphilis,macular syphilide and maculopapular syphilide were easily misdiagnosed as pityriasis rosea or dermatitis.The papulosquamous syphilide was commonly misdiagnosed as psoriasis.The condyloma latum was commonly misdiagnosed as condyloma acuminatum. CONCLUSIONS The serologic test is important in diagnosis of primary syphilis.The histopathologic test plays a role in diagnosis of primary syphilis,condyloma latum and papulosquamous syphilide,but of limited value in diagnosis of macular syphilide.