研究人员致力于对抗梅毒病例的上升

在美国.S., syphilis is at its highest rate since 1950, with a 自2018年以来增长了近80%,而 出生时患有梅毒的婴儿 在过去的十年里飙升了937%.

Symptoms of the sexually transmitted infection can include painless ulcers and sores that progress to body rashes on the palms and soles, 脱发, 肌肉疼痛和疲劳. Untreated, syphilis can cause blindness, deafness, paralysis and damage to the heart and brain.

Syphilis is easy to cure in the early stages with antibiotics like benzathine penicillin and doxycycline, 博士说. 阿琳塞纳, a re太阳城娱乐城er with the UNC Institute for 全球 健康 and Infectious Diseases. But better diagnostics and a vaccine are urgently needed.

“尽管在传染病方面取得了许多进展, we’re still using serological tests developed in the early 1900s to determine infection and response to therapy,”她说。. “We also need a syphilis vaccine that can effectively prevent infections in those at risk for infection.”

Seña领先1美元.9 million National Institutes of 健康 contract to develop a specimen biorepository, collecting clinical data and different sample types to advance syphilis diagnostics from patients at domestic and international sites like UNC Project Malawi. She also led the clinical project for a multicenter NIH grant to collect specimens for genomic sequence analyses and to identify future vaccine candidates.

“These are critical steps in the development of a syphilis vaccine with global efficacy,”她说。.

梅毒的持续性

Seña says the persistent and chronic nature of syphilis — an infection that can hide from the immune system and affect other organ systems if not treated — is fascinating. She educates healthcare providers about syphilis throughout the U.S. and is a consultant for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s STI treatment guidelines on syphilis.

威廉·奥斯勒爵士, 现代医学之父, said that ‘those who understand syphilis understand medicine.’ This is a challenge for many clinicians that continues today,”她说。.

约 40%的婴儿 born to women with untreated syphilis can be stillborn or die from the infection as a newborn. In 2012, there was only one case of congenital syphilis reported in North Carolina. 到2022年，有55个.

“Syphilis is one of the most difficult STIs to recognize and manage and can result in serious consequences in pregnant women if they are not screened properly,Seña说.

Syphilis is caused by the Treponema pallidum bacterium, 研究受到阻碍是因为, 直到2018年, 调查人员无法 to successfully grow a long-lasting tissue culture of the bacterium. Testing is also complicated because the disease progresses into complex phases that can coexist with other STIs like genital herpes and HIV.

目前, syphilis is diagnosed using a screening algorithm with serum antibody tests; however, these cannot reliably distinguish between current and past infections nor determine cure after antibiotics.