Welkom bij het Lymeforum

Uit de meest recente RIVM cijfers blijkt dat syfilis het afgelopen jaar met ruim een kwart toenam.

Hoe vaak komt het voor?
Wereldwijd zijn er 12 miljoen nieuwe gevallen van syfilis per jaar. Het aantal syfilisgevallen neemt in België ieder jaar toe. Tussen 2011 en 2012 was er een stijging van 4%. De gemiddelde stijging tussen 2002 en 2013 bedroeg 25%. De stijging van het aantal syfilisregistraties is het meest uitgesproken in Vlaanderen (33%).
Belangrijke risicofactoren zijn wisselende onbeschermde seksuele contacten, hiv-infectie en prostitutie. Mannen die seks hebben met mannen (MSM) zijn een belangrijke subgroep binnen de syfilispatiënten. Er is één kans op drie dat syfilis wordt overgedragen na onbeschermde seks met een besmette partner.

We've published a report looking at rates of syphilis in London. We have been seeing cases of this infection rise in London year-on-year and we now have rates of syphilis three times higher than anywhere else in England.

Lyme borreliose
Door kruisreactie tussen Borrelia burgdorferi en Treponema pallidum kunnen bij Lyme borreliose de TP-antistoffen en Syfilis blot foutpositief reageren.

Serum specimens from 163 persons with Lyme disease, tick-borne or louse-borne relaps- ing fever, yaws, syphilis, leptospirosis,
or Rocky Mountain spotted fever were analyzed to assess the specificity of indirect fluorescent antibody (IFA) tests, an enzyme-linked
immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and microscopic agglutination (MA) procedures.
Strong cross-reactivity occurred when sera from individuals with Lyme disease, tick-borne relapsing fever, and louse-borne
relapsing fever were tested against heterologous Borrelia antigens.
Antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi bound to Treponema pa//idum in immunofluorescence tests for syphilis. Sera from subjects with syphilis
cross-reacted in IFA tests and the ELISA for Lyme disease.
Immunoglobulin antibodies to Borrelia or Treponema spirochetes, how- ever, did not react with serovars of Leptospira interrogans in MA
or IFA tests, and the prevalence of false-positive results in the reciprocal analyses was negligible

Een negatief resultaat betekent noodzakelijk niet dat de persoon geen syfilis heeft aangezien de antilichamen niet maximaal drie maanden na besmetting kunnen opspoorbaar zijn.
[.....]
Die met tertiaire syfilis of besmetting van het hart vergen een ECG en een Echocardiografie voor diagnose van de omvang van schade

Dark Field Microscopy
Dark field microscopy remains a sensitive, direct, and quick method for diagnosing syphilis in active lesions (119). However, it requires a special dark field equipped microscope and skilled technicians that are not usually available at most medical facilities today,

Abstract
Whether spirochetes persist in affected host tissues and cause the late/chronic manifestations of neurosyphilis was the subject of long-lasting debate. Detection of Treponema pallidum in the brains of patients with general paresis established a direct link between persisting infection and tertiary manifestations of neurosyphilis.

Ik dacht dat Borrelia b. een stuk langer is dan die treponema pallidum.

Morphology Borrelia Burgdorferi;

B. burgdorferi resembles other spirochetes in that it has an outer membrane and inner membrane with a thin layer of peptidoglycan in between. However, the outer membrane lacks lipopolysaccharide. Its shape is a flat wave. It is about 0.3 μm wide and 5 to 20 μm in length.[4]
B. burgdorferi is a microaerobic, motile spirochete with seven to 11 bundled perisplasmic flagella set at each end that allow the bacterium to move in low- and high-viscosity media alike, which is related to its high virulence factor.[5]

Cell structure and metabolism Treponema Pallidum;

T. pallidum is a Gram-negative bacteria consisting of an inner membrane, a thin peptidoglycan cell wall, and an outer membrane. It is very small in size with a length that ranges from 6 to 20 um and a diameter range of 18-20 um. T. pallidum is a member of the spirochete family which are characterized by their distinct helical shape. Probably the most interesting property of T. pallidum’s structure is the endoflagella found in the periplasmic space between its two membranes. These organelles give T. pallidum its distinctive corkscrew motility. (

T. pallidum is a Gram-negative bacteria

Microbial Characteristics and Virulence:
Borrelia burgdorferi is not classified as either Gram-positive or Gram-negative.

They belong in their own category.