The Recent Syphilis Epidemic Isn’t a Resurgence, It’s a Deadly Reminder

Should patients know if they have syphilis, Lyme disease, and similar infections or not? How would your life go on if you knew that you had an infectious disease? Will your behaviors change? Do you look at the medical system with the same regard? Could your feelings adapt?

Should you be angry?

False Negative Syphilis Testing Mirrors False Negative Lyme Disease, and the Consequences Are Catastrophic

False negative syphilis testing has become a growing concern among medical professionals, as it can lead to serious health complications including death. Similarly, seronegative Lyme is also a reported concern in the medical field. How can the system fail to address such serious health implications, and what can you do to safeguard yourself against potentially fatal medical errors?

A 43-year-old woman died suddenly and was found at PM to have a ruptured thoracic aortic aneurysm. The endothelial surface of the aorta showed a ‘tree-bark’ appearance. Histology of the aneurysm wall showed a patchy, mainly perivascular, plasma cell infiltrate. Multiple spirochete-like organisms were identified on T. pallidum IHC. However, PM syphilis serology (screen including rapid plasma reagin (RPR) and T. pallidum particle agglutination (TPPA)) on femoral blood was negative. PCR testing on FFPE aortic wall tissue was negative. Further history revealed routine antenatal syphilis screening tests had been negative, no known history or risk of exposure to syphilis or other treponemes. This case raises the possibility of false negative syphilis testing. A ruptured thoracic aortic aneurysm and the difficulties of confirming syphilis | SpringerLink

What is False Negative, or Seronegative?

False Negative, or Seronegative, is when you really have an infection but the test you’ve taken cannot detect antibodies for the infection. Recent research has highlighted that false negatives for syphilis, Lyme, and other spirochete infections may be more common than previously thought. This is due to the ability of spirochetal bacteria to evade detection by the immune system and impair antibody production, resulting in inaccurate test results.

“A serological diagnosis becomes more difficult to make over time as up to 25% of patients will become RPR or Venereal Disease Research Laboratory negative.” A Case of Undiagnosed Syphilis in a Patient Undergoing Coron… : Infectious Diseases in Clinical Practice (lww.com)

“Many doctors and labs adhere diligently to the two-step tests — for Lyme disease approved by the FDA and recommended by the CDC, which involves an initial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) followed by a Western blot test. Both tests are designed to detect antibodies in the patient’s blood to the B. burgdorferi bacteria. According to the CDC, both must be positive for a patient to be diagnosed with Lyme disease.

However, recent studies have raised concerns about the Lyme disease test accuracy, particularly the ELISA, which has been found to have a poor sensitivity rate, or ability to detect antibodies in the blood. Recent studies, in fact, report that the ELISA and Western blot can miss up to 60 percent of well-defined Lyme disease cases.” Negative Lyme Disease Results & Symptoms | IGeneX Tick Talk

Are Better Tests Coming Soon Enough?

As the number of cases of syphilis and Lyme Disease continues to rise, it is becoming increasingly important to develop better tests for these diseases. Recent advances in direct detection methods have made it possible to create more accurate and reliable tests for both syphilis and Lyme Disease, but are they coming to market soon enough?

In some cases, testing and treatment was never an option.

New techniques to grow the bacteria in the lab may make it easier to study syphilis. But doing so will require more researchers focused on the disease. “There is an entire generation of clinicians and researchers who may have never seen or thought about syphilis,” said Ina Park, an associate professor of family community medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Now, she added, “we need to catch up.” Science Falls Behind as Syphilis Stages Another Comeback | The Scientist Magazine® (the-scientist.com)

Is It Possible to See a “Special Doctor”?

Are you feeling unwell and unsure about who to see? With the rise of chronic illnesses, many people are looking for alternative ways to diagnose and treat their conditions. Seeing a specialist doctor may be the best option for those who want to get to the root cause of their disease. Some may consider seeing a Lyme specialist or Functional Medicine doctor who often offer advance diagnostics and integrative therapies which don’t always rely on pharmaceuticals.

Though these alternative paths are available, insurance companies routinely do not cover the doctors' visits. More frequently however, insurers are starting to cover the medications and lab work prescribed by these “special doctors”. What makes them special? They’re more likely to understand the problem and not let you suffer the consequences of poor outcomes associated with false negative serologic testing for spirochetal infections.

Should You Feel Angry About False Negatives?

False negatives can be extremely frustrating and disheartening. They often lead to medical misdiagnosis, which can hold serious consequences for your health. It’s understandable to feel angry when you receive a false negative diagnosis but have to find out several years later. Most patients will endure incorrect therapies for years or decades before finally receiving a more accurate diagnosis. These are years off a patient's life that they will never get back. They will never be able to go back in time to relive those moments in health as they often regret doing so in illness.

What’s most important either way is to channel those emotions into effort, so that a movement can happen, and then change can occur. Until the problem is fully realized, then action to correct it will slowly if ever manifest. The first step to overcoming anger for losing time to false-negative test results is to raise awareness about the problem. Share your story so that others can read, politicians can ponder, and so you can be free from anger to live the rest of your life in peace.