Psycho-sexological impact(s) of syphilis among infected persons

Purpose: Syphilis bears the image of a major sexually transmitted disease. No study has yet explored this psycho-sexological impact.Methods: 43 patients, with syphilis had to perform a semi-structured interview to collect detailed qualitative data concerning the way they experienced their syphilitic infection psychologically and sexologically.Results: Regarding the psychological repercussions, observations revealed that 10/43 (23.26%) of the patients reported a long-term impact while 3/43 (6.98%) of patients reported a short-term impact (time between diagnosis and end of treatment) of syphilis on mental health, and especially feeling of anxiety. Concerning the sexological repercussions, results showed that 15/43 (34.88%) of the patients reported a long-term impact while 5/46 (11.63%) of patients reported a short-term impact of syphilis on sexual life: lack of sexual desire, loss of confidence in the current and/or future sexual partners. We also noted long-term changes in sexual practices (safer sex, abstinence) for 20/43 (55.81%) of the patients and short-term changes for 4/43 (9.30%) of patients.Conclusions: Psycho-sexual issues of infected patients should be taken in account during their care, to avoid additional distress linked to the disease.