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To diagnose neurosyphilis, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis is required. Lumbar puncture ("spinal tap") is used to acquire CSF. The Venereal Disease Research Laboratory test of the CSF is the preferred test for making a diagnosis of neurosyphilis. [14] A positive test confirms neurosyphilis but a negative result does not rule out neurosyphilis.
The fluorescent treponemal antibody absorption (FTA-ABS) test is a diagnostic test for syphilis.Using antibodies specific for the Treponema pallidum species, such tests would be assumed to be more specific than non-treponemal testing such as VDRL but have been shown repeatedly to be sensitive but not specific for the diagnosis of neurosyphilis in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).
Meningeal syphilis (as known as syphilitic aseptic meningitis or meningeal neurosyphilis) is a chronic form of syphilis infection that affects the central nervous system. Treponema pallidum , a spirochate bacterium, is the main cause of syphilis, which spreads drastically throughout the body and can infect all its systems if not treated ...
Common symptoms that develop over the first couple of years of life include enlargement of the liver and spleen (70%), rash (70%), fever (40%), neurosyphilis (20%), and lung inflammation (20%). [7] If untreated, late congenital syphilis may occur in 40%, including saddle nose deformation, Higouménakis' sign , saber shin , or Clutton's joints ...
Tabes dorsalis is a late consequence of neurosyphilis, characterized by the slow degeneration (specifically, demyelination) of the neural tracts primarily in the dorsal root ganglia of the spinal cord (nerve root). These patients have lancinating nerve root pain which is aggravated by coughing, and features of sensory ataxia with ocular ...
General paresis, also known as general paralysis of the insane (GPI), paralytic dementia, or syphilitic paresis is a severe neuropsychiatric disorder, classified as an organic mental disorder, and is caused by late-stage syphilis and the chronic meningoencephalitis and cerebral atrophy that are associated with this late stage of the disease when left untreated.
Argyll Robertson pupils were named after Douglas Argyll Robertson (1837–1909), a Scottish ophthalmologist and surgeon who described the condition in the mid-1860s in the context of neurosyphilis. In the early 20th century, William John Adie described a second type of pupil that could "accommodate but not react".
Neurosyphilis in newborns may present as cranial nerve palsies, cerebral infarcts (strokes), seizures or eye abnormalities. [18] Many newborns with congenital syphilis, 55% by some estimates, do not exhibit any symptoms initially, with signs and symptoms developing days to months later. [18]