Neurosyphilis

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Central nervous system

Penicillin is used to treat neurosyphilis. The medicine may be given in various ways.

• It may be injected into a vein several times a day for 10 - 14 days.
• You may take probenecid by mouth 4 times a day, combined with daily muscle injections -- both for 10 - 14 days.

You must have follow-up blood tests at 3, 6, 12, 24, and 36 months to make sure the infection is gone. You will need follow-up lumbar punctures for CSF fluid analysis every 6 months. If you have HIV or another medical condition, your follow-up schedule may be different.

For information on treating syphilis, see the following articles:

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• Primary syphilis
• Secondary syphilis
• Syphilis
• Tertiary syphilis

This is considered a life-threatening complication of syphilis. How well you do depends on how severe the neurosyphilis is before treatment.

The symptoms can get slowly worse.

Call for an appointment with your health care provider if you have had syphilis in the past and now have signs of neurological problems.

Review Date: 09/15/2010
Reviewed By: David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine; Jatin M. Vyas, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Assistant in Medicine, Division of Infectious Disease, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org).