Symptomatic secondary syphilis: empirical antimicrobial treatment or await microbiology?

Daniel Richardson, Colin Fitzpatrick, Fionnuala Finnerty, Debbie Williams Men who have sex with men (MSM) with symptomatic secondary syphilis frequently attend sexual health clinics with characteristic symptoms including rash and fever. Clinicians have to decide whether to await test results (causing delayed treatment) or to treat with antibiotics based on their clinical judgement at presentation. We reviewed our cases of secondary syphilis over a 2-year period; 16 of 36 MSM (44%) were treated at presentation and 20 (56%) had delayed treatment with a median delay of 7 days. Introduction of point-of-care testing will prevent delayed treatment and the overuse of antimicrobials, as well as reducing onward transmission.
Source: Sexual Health - Category: Sexual Medicine Authors: Source Type: research