What are the early signs and stages of syphilis?
The first sign is usually an ulcer, which appears about 10 to 40 days following the entry of germs into the body (inoculation). It appears at the point the germs enter the body, usually on the skin or mucous membrane nearabout the sex organ, and lasts for about a month, if untreated. Normally, it does not pain or itch. It is called chancre. At the beginning, it may look like a pimple, blister or crack. There is nothing fundamentally characteristic about the appearance of a chancre. The diagnosis can only be established by the demonstration of actual living germs in the lesion. At times, the ulcer is very small or hidden, so that it is not noticed. This is often true in girls. In an appreciable number of infected persons, the initial lesion, or the chancre, may not progress sufficiently to enable its recognition. This first sore of syphilis will disappear even without treatment, or with some applications, but the germs do not go away. A unique feature of early syphilitic infection is th
