The treatment outcome and predictors of serological response in syphilis in a sexually transmitted infections center, China.

Serology is the mainstay for syphilis treatment monitoring. Baseline rapid plasma reagin (RPR) titre, HIV status, and syphilis stage have been found to be associated with the time to serological response among syphilis patients. This study mainly aims to evaluate the time to serological response, and to identify factors affecting the serological outcome. Medical records of syphilis cases diagnosed in Peking Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH) between 2008 and 2018 were retrospectively reviewed. Kaplan-Meier analysis was performed to evaluate the median time to serologic response and cumulative probability of serologic response over time according to different variables. Cox regression model was conducted to find factors associated with serological response. There were 984 patients diagnosed with primary, secondary, or latent syphilis cases and receiving injections of benzathine penicillin G (BPG) as initial treatment at the Peking Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH) between 2008 and 2018. Finally, data on 571 patients, including 49 (8.6%) primary syphilis, 261 (45.7%) secondary syphilis, and 261 (45.7%) latent syphilis, were used for analysis. It took longer time to achieve serological response for subjects aged ≥45 years than younger individuals (89 days versus 58 days; p=0.008). Males achieved serological response more quickly than females (71 days versus 83 days; p = 0.011). There was a significant difference in the time to serological response according to different syphilis stages (p < 0.001), with 55 days (95% CI, 43-67 days) for primary, 57 days (95% CI, 51-63 days) for secondary, and 117 days for latent syphilis. In addition, patients with lower baseline RPR titre had longer period to achieve serological response (252 days [95% CI, 129-375 days] for RPR titre ≤1:8, 78 days [95% CI, 63-93 days] for RPR titres from 1:16 to 1:32, and 53 days [95% CI, 49-57 days] for RPR titres ≥1:64, respectively; p<0.001). However, no significant difference in time to serological response to treatment was found according to HIV coinfection status. The result of multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that being older than 45 years with latent syphilis, HIV coinfection, or with baseline RPR titre ≤1:8 was associated with slow response. Among patients followed for at least 1 year or seroreverted, 128 (36.9%) had seroreverted within a year, and 219 (63.1%) still had a positive RPR after 1 year. For multiple logistical regression, being female and HIV coinfection were significantly associated with the failure of seroreversion (OR, 0.42 [95% CI, 0.26-0.68]; p <0.001). This study revealed that younger age, higher initial RPR titre, early syphilis stage, and HIV-negative status were associated with faster serological cure. Female sex, individuals with HIV coinfection, and latent syphilis were significantly associated with the failure of seroreversion.

Effect of syphilis infection on HIV acquisition: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVES: Co-infection of syphilis and HIV remains hard to manage and its morbidity shows a rising tendency. Syphilis has been associated with increased risk of HIV acquisition in high-risk groups, especially in men who have sex with men (MSM). This systematic review and meta-analysis estimates the effect of syphilis infection on subsequent HIV acquisition, and assesses its difference between MSM and other high-risk populations. METHODS: Five electronic databases were searched for literature published to 21 September 2019 without language restrictions. Longitudinal studies that enrolled key populations to compare the incidence of HIV with and without syphilis exposure were included. We used a random-effects model to estimate the effect of syphilis infection on HIV acquisition among high-risk populations, which include MSM, sex workers, serodiscordant couples, people who inject drugs and attendees of STD clinics. RESULTS: A total of 17 cohorts and 5 case-control studies involving 65 232 participants were included. HIV incidence showed a two-time increase after syphilis exposure, compared with a control group (relative risk (RR) 2.67 (95% CI 2.05 to 3.47); p<0.05 for prevalence; RR 3.21 (95% CI 2.26 to 4.57); p=0.419 for incidence). No significant differences were observed between MSM and other high-risk groups in syphilis infection prevalence (RR 2.60 (95% CI 1.78 to 3.80); p<0.05 vs RR, 2.98 (95% CI 2.15 to 4.14); p<0.05; ratio of relative risk 0.76 (95% CI 0.49 to 1.17)). CONCLUSIONS: Syphilis infection increases the risk of HIV acquisition in high-risk populations. There is no evidence to suggest MSM are at greater risk than other high-risk populations. Prompt diagnosis, timely treatment, preventive interventions against syphilis infection would be a worthwhile investment for reducing HIV incidence. Strategies to combat stigma and discrimination targeted at MSM are pragmatically needed.

The Great Imitator: Atypical Cutaneous Manifestations of Primary Syphilitic Chancre.

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.

Risk Factors for the Co-infection with HIV, Hepatitis B and C Virus in Syphilis Patients.

Syphilis, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) share transmission routes. Syphilis infection can increase the risk of acquiring and transmitting HIV in key populations. The aims of this study were to investigate the risk factors and co-infection patterns for HIV, HBV and HCV in patients with syphilis. A retrospective study was conducted of 2,412 patients with syphilis (1,922 (79.68%) with latent syphilis, 336 (13.93%) with secondary syphilis, 78 (3.23%) with primary syphil-is, 72 (2.99%) with tertiary syphilis, and 4 (0.17%) with congenital syphilis). Positive results were odserved in 8.21% (134/1,620) of patients tested for HIV, 5.75% (82/1,427) for HBV, and 1.02% (14/1,374) for HCV, respectively. Multivariate logistic regression analysis found that male sex (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 26.03; 95% confidence interval (CI) 10.37-65.36), age <55 years, especially age group 25-34-years (AOR 8.06; 95% CI 4.16-15.61), diagnosed at the Department of Infectious Disease (AOR 19.16; 95% CI 9.74-37.69), patients from Southern China, which is a geographical area south of the Qinling-Huaihe line (AOR 1.86; 95% CI 1.06-3.26) and having a rapid plasma reagin titre ≥1:32 (AOR 1.88; 95% CI 1.12-3.15) were independently associated with HIV infection. Risk factors for HBV co-infection in patients with syphilis, including male sex (AOR 1.78; 95% CI 1.12-2.83) and living in Southern China (AOR 4.66; 95% CI, 2.36-9.17) were also identified.

Clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis of amelanotic acral melanoma: A comparative study with pigmented acral melanoma.

We compared the clinicopathological features and prognosis between 16 amelanotic acral melanomas versus 56 pigmented acral melanomas. Amelanotic acral melanomas showed a thicker Breslow thickness (all had a Breslow thickness > 1 mm), more frequent ulceration (15/16, 93.7%) and lower HMB-45 positive rate than pigmented acral melanomas. However, a significant difference in survival was not observed.

Amelanotic melanoma.

Cutaneous amelanotic melanoma (AM) is a rare amelanotic or a hypomelanotic subtype of melanoma, comprising only 0.4-27.5% of all melanoma cases. The mean age of the patients is over 50 years, and the male/female ratio varies from 0.5 to 4. Patients with red hair, type I skin, freckles, lack of nevi on the back, a sun-sensitive phenotype, or previous AM history are more likely to develop AMs. As AMs lack pigmentation, their appearances vary and can mimic many benign and malignant conditions, thus presenting a diagnostic challenge. AMs are composed of greater proportions of nodular melanoma, acral lentiginous melanoma, and desmoplastic melanoma than pigmented melanomas. They also present with thicker Breslow thickness, higher mitotic rate, more frequent ulceration, higher tumor stage, and lower survival than pigmented melanomas.