I am a nurse in a Neuro ICU and have recently been taking care of a patient
that is 36 y.o. and has suffered multiple cva's. Upon admittion he was HTN
220/120 and later after an arteriogram an aneurysm was discovered. He was
in the unit for about 2 weeks when a nurse was stuck by a needle that she
had been using on him. He was obviously tested for multiple diseases and
was discovered to have syphillis. His partner was unaware of this and she
began treatment immediately. My question is what is the relationship of
syphillis to his current condition? Could the CVA, aneurysm and HTN be
secondary to the syphillis. I am asking because he is so young. Do you
have ANY info on syphillis r/t neuro? I have found some info but it tends
to be very general. Some specific things that I am looking for are: Is
there a frame of time (age) if someone has a CVA that you would suspect
syphillis? What is the pathophysiology of syphillis to neuro? What is the
time frame from contracting syphillis to having neurological effects? What
do they normally treat syphillis with in this situation, Bacillin?
Thanks,
Bethany
