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Syphilis Info, Please!!!


Savittre

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How about medicines like Erythromycine and Augmentin? Would they work for something like that? I spend half my time in the field upcountry here and in rural Cambodia, far from relibale pharmacies, and those are some items I usually keep with me. Would those work on syph, also?

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If you want to use amoxicillin (like in Augmentin) you should add probenecid which you probably don't carry with you.

Erythromycin (500 mg qid for 2 weeks) is an alternative for patients allergic to penicillin, like doxycycline.

 

At least in Thailand I would rather go to the next amphoe and get proper treatment at the local hospital!

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Erythromycin is effective against both gonorrhea and syphilis; however, there are resistant strains of gonorrhea-in some areas, 10%.

I don't know of any studies using second generation penicillins (Augmentin) for syphilis. Higher percentage of resistant gonorrhea strains than erythromycin.

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you may be right about Cambodia.

In Thailand you will get much better examination and treatment in any Amphur than if you try do-it-yourself medicine. This is not the jungle here. And BTW, the next provincial hospital is never more than several hours away. And these are surprisingly good!

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For anything serious I would get on a plane and go to BKK.

No way would I trust a local hospital out in the country .Been here along time Speak Thi afluently blah blah blah)and seen WAY too many absolutely poorly diagnosed treatments-OK they are not as bad as Bali or Indo which are heinous but persnally I would not take a chance.IMHO

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What lab tests were performed to make the diagnosis?

 

Normally an RPR (or possibly the older VDRL) is done as a screening test for syphilis. If one of these tests is positive the results are reported as a "titer" using the last positive dilution as the final result. A more specific test is then performed - an FTA-ABS.

 

If you had an FTA-ABS (Fluorescent treponemal antibody absorption test) and you have had syphilis the FTA-ABS will continue to be positive even though the syphilis infection has been successfully treated. So, you can't use this test to monitor the success or failure of treatment.

 

Post treatment monitoring would be done using the VDRL or RPR test. If positive this is then titered. You mentioned a result of 320 so I'm assuming you have a titer of 1:320. How does this compare to the initial test prior to treatment? Hopefully it has gone down.

 

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003512.htm#Special%20considerations

 

-redwood

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