Syphilis and HIV – The Intersection of Two Epidemics

HIV Tegan Parry

Treatment of Syphilis Can Be Less Effective If You Have HIV

Having HIV and syphilis can make treating syphilis more difficult. This may be due to the impact HIV has on the immune system.

According to a 2017 study that involved assessing syphilis treatment in 510 people with and without HIV, it was discovered that treatment was ineffective in 10.94% of the individuals. And being HIV-positive was associated with a three-fold increase in ineffective syphilis treatment or reinfection.

A 2013 review studied the medical records of 560 people who had both HIV and syphilis. While the type of syphilis treatment used didn’t impact the outcome, the researchers discovered other factors that could have caused ineffective syphilis treatment, such as:

A previous history of syphilis
Having a CD4 count lower than 350 cells per milliliter
Having low levels of antibodies in a rapid plasma regain (RPR) syphilis test

Tegan Parry August 9, 2022

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