RPR (Syphilis) questions with correct answers

VENEREAL SYPHILIS: TREPONEMA PALLIDUM - Answer Venereal syphilis or Syphilis (Great pox, Evil Pox, Spanish disease) - Is a sexually transmitted disease caused by infection with Treponema pallidum, a spirochete bacterium, family Spirochaetaceae. Spirochetes - Answer - Are long, slender, spirally shaped bacteria. - These organisms are motile in blood, in the intestinal tract, and in other viscous environments. In water they are unable to move forward and so they simply spin. Treponema pallidum - Answer - Is very sensitive to environment conditions and as such does not survive contact with air or sunlight. Therefore, it is not transmitted following toilet seat contact. - They are difficult to culture and requires special conditions for growth. CLINICAL MANIFESTATIONS / PATHOLOGY - Answer - T. pallidum naturally infects only humans, and the bacterium is transmitted directly from one host to another. - Transmission of the organism occurs via intimate contact with an individual who has a lesion containing T. pallidum. - The organism enters the host through abraded skin or by penetrating mucus membranes, where it multiplies locally and causes an ulcerated lesion called the CHANCRE. - This lesion harbors many T. pallidum organisms, so this is highly contagious stage. T. pallidum may also be transmitted from infected mothers to fetuses via the placenta, and cause CONGENITAL SYPHILIS.