Syphilis
Syphilis is a bacterial infection which develops in stages. It’s caught by: sexual contact with someone who is infected, close physical skin contact with someone who is infected, an unborn child through its infected mother and injecting drugs.
During early stages painless sores might appear on the body (most commonly on the genitals or mouth). These can take anything from two to six weeks to heal and are highly infectious.
Secondary stage usually occurs some weeks after the sores, this can include a painless rash on the body and is often seen on the soles of the feet or palms of the hands, growths on the genitals that may be mistaken for warts and flu-like symptoms, white patches in the mouth and hair loss.
Third or latent stage usually occurs after some years and can cause serious damage to the body such as blindness, paralysis and heart problems.
Syphilis can be picked up by a simple blood test. If diagnosed early, syphilis can be easily treated with antibiotics, usually penicillin injections which can prevent it developing into later stages. You can order a free STI screening kit here.
For more information, you can also visit the Syphilis STI guide from the Family Planning Association.