Blog Series: Key Periods for Diagnosing and Treating Syphilis

Introduction

From 2017 to 2022, syphilis cases have increased 166% across Canada illustrating the increasing need for prevention that includes better access to testing and timely treatment. Having a basic understanding of syphilis-related information can help inform personal sexual health decisions, lessen anxiety about potential harms, or play a role in educating others about syphilis. This blog series aims to be an information resource about the timelines (referred to as periods) of the syphilis infection.

This blog series will primarily define, describe, and visualize the INCUBATION PERIOD, WINDOW PERIOD, TESTING WINDOW, and TREATMENT PERIOD for syphilis. It will cover some important considerations about these periods to help the audience make or guide informed decisions around testing and treatment.

The topic of key periods for diagnosing and treating syphilis will be released in two separate blog posts:

 

 

Intended Audience:

  • Healthcare professionals looking for a syphilis public education resource
  • Community educators looking for a syphilis community education resource
  • People who are sexually active with multiple partners who want to learn more about syphilis
  • People in general who want to learn more about syphilis

 

Stay tuned for PART 1 of this series!

 

To learn some basics of syphilis:

SmartSexResource 

BC Centre for Disease Control Health Info 

BC Syphilis Action Plan Refresh, 2023-2025 

 

Interesting reads related to syphilis:

Research Update: Rapid HIV and syphilis test now approved for clinical use 

The BCCDC Position Statement on Doxycycline as Prophylaxis for Sexually Transmitted Infections 

CATIE News – Study finds some people with HIV are at greater risk for STI’s 

 

Questions? Get in touch:

Monte Strong, Research and Evaluation Assistant: monte [at] paninbc.ca