A pregnant woman with syphilis, for example, can transmit the disease to a child developing in her womb. This may result in spontaneous abortion, miscarriage, a stillborn fetus, or a fatally ill infant. If the child survives, it may suffer from a number of deformities. “These include,” according to the Encyclopædia Britannica (1974 edition), “thickening of the shins, notching of the teeth, collapse of the bridge of the nose, and eye defects.” Congenital syphilis can affect the infant even when the mother can no longer pass on the disease by sexual intercourse. During 1973 some 3,000 cases of congenital syphilis were reported in the United States.

Syphilis results from infection by a microscopic “spirochete,” a spiral or corkscrew-shaped germ called Treponema pallidum. It enters the body through breaks in the skin or mucous membranes. Within hours after entry the spirochete begins multiplying and spreads throughout the body by way of the blood and lymph systems. Medical authorities have defined three stages of syphilis. However, an “incubation period” of ten days to ten weeks often follows infection before any evidence of the disease appears.

The first indication of “primary” syphilis is a “chancre,” an open sore at the place where the germ entered. This is usually painless and may be so slight as to go unnoticed. Untreated, it heals of itself in two to six weeks, which can deceive a person into thinking that all is well. Ordinarily syphilis in its chancre stage is accompanied by enlargement of nearby lymph nodes.

Signs of “secondary” syphilis show up from four weeks to several months after the appearance of the chancre. Evidence of this stage of syphilis may persist for from a few days to several months and then disappear without treatment. About half of infected persons develop symptoms such as headache, vague pains in bones and joints and sore throat. There may also be sores on the genital organs and a skin rash that does not itch, as well as some continuance of symptoms of the primary stage. The book Preventive Medicine and Public Health explains:

“Other more or less common manifestations of secondary syphilis are a moth-eaten type of loss of hair from the scalp, external or internal inflammation of the eye, pain from bone involvement, jaundice from liver involvement, . . . and syphilitic meningitis with severe headache, convulsions, deafness, partial paralysis, and sometimes coma.”

While not all people develop these severe symptoms, does this sound like a price you would like to risk paying for a few moments of immoral pleasure?

The third or “latent” stage of syphilis is even worse, though symptoms may not appear for years. In this stage, according to Life and Health, the spiral-shaped germs “attack the brain, causing insanity; the spinal cord, paralyzing portions of the body; the heart or major blood vessels, weakening them; or the optic nerve, causing blindness. The victim can only guess whether he will become crippled, paralyzed, or insane! Many of these will die early.”

Syphilis often escapes detection. Its evidences are so like other illnesses that it has been called “the great imitator.” Many people do not suspect that they have syphilis, and some persons may reach the third stage of this disease having never exhibited external symptoms of primary or secondary syphilis. Persons with syphilis indeed pay a high price.