Sexual Health

Syphilis is an infection that is passed from one person to another during sex, or from mum to bub while pregnant.   

It can cause serious health problems if it is not treated. Testing and treatment is easy and protects you and your partners from getting crook.  

Anyone can get syphilis. Most people in Southeast Queensland who get syphilis are aged between 20 and 44 years, including Mob.   

Not everyone who has syphilis has symptoms, so people often don’t know they have it.   

That’s why it’s important for you and any sexual partners you have to get tested regularly for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) like syphilis – even when you have no symptoms.   

Some of the first symptoms of syphilis can be sores at the mouth or penis, vagina or anus (bum). Sometimes these sores are painful and sometimes they aren’t.   

Syphilis can also cause a rash all over the body. The rash can spread to the hands and soles of the feet.   

If you have symptoms, you should get tested. The sores and rash will go away without treatment, but syphilis will stay in the body and keep causing damage.   

If syphilis isn’t treated for many years, it can cause brain infections, dementia, lung and heart failure, blindness and infertility – this means being unable to ever have a child.   

If mum has syphilis while she is pregnant and doesn’t know, it can pass onto bub before birth. This is known as congenital syphilis and can cause stillbirth or serious health problems for bub, and bub may die.    

That’s why we all need to get tested and treated so that we can protect our bubs from congenital syphilis.   

There’s no shame in getting tested! You are doing the right thing for yourself and Mob.   

Testing for syphilis (and other STIs) can be done:  

A small amount of blood will be taken for testing. Sometimes, if there is a sore, they may take a swab.  

You can get tested for syphilis as part of your annual 715 Health Check – don’t be shame, just ask.   

If you are pregnant, you should get tested when you first visit the clinic with your pregnancy, when you are 28 weeks pregnant, 36 weeks pregnant, at birth, and 6 weeks after bub is born. Your partners should also come in and have a yarn about getting tested to keep you and bub safe.   

Syphilis is easy to cure in its early stages. The sooner you get tested, the easier it is to cure.  

Syphilis is treated with a single injection of penicillin (an antibiotic). This will cure syphilis if you have had it for less than a year. If you’ve had syphilis for longer than a year, you’ll need more injections.   

Even if you have had syphilis before, you can get syphilis again. That’s why it’s important to get tested regularly.  

Testing regularly for STIs means you are looking after your health and respecting your partners. If more people in our Community test regularly for STIs, and get treated, everyone is better off.   

Test results are confidential. Your partner will not be told about your result without your permission. No one else in your family or community will be told about your result without your permission.   

The Department of Health stores all test results in a safe and confidential system. These results are only used to help guide how we can further protect our mob and manage the spread of the infection.  

Mpox is a viral infection. People at highest risk of mpox in South East Queensland are gay and bisexual men, and men who have sex with men. Anyone who comes in very close contact with mpox can get infected. 

Mpox can spread through:  

Symptoms usually start one to two weeks after being in contact with someone with mpox. They include:  

If you have these symptoms, it’s important to get medical support. You can phone our clinic, or a sexual health clinic, or call Mob Link on 1800 254 354.