If syphilis is not cured it can cause severe damage to the whole body. It increases the danger of contracting HIV while it threatens women with serious problems during pregnancy. The treatment may prevent future damages but it can not repair or reverse damages already occuring.

• Small papules. These may develop on the skin, the bones, the liver or any other organ in the final stages of the disease. These papule are eliminated by an antibiotics treatment.
• Neurological problems. Syphilis can cause a series of problems in the nervous system such as a stroke, meningitis, deafness, vision disturbances and dementia. .
• Cardiovascular problems. It can cause aneurysm and inflammation of the aorta as well as in other blood vessels. Syphilis can cause damages in the heart’s valves.
• HIV infection. It is calculated that adults with sexually transmitted syphilis have 2 to 5 times more possibilities to be infected by HIV virus. A syphilis chancre bleeds easily creating a channel for the HIV virus to enter the blood stream during sexual intercourse.
• Complications during pregnancy and childbirth. If a woman is pregnant then she can transmit syphilis to her unborn baby. Congenital syphilis dramatically increases the risk of miscarriage, stillbirth and neonatal death.