A Study on 10 Cases of Syphilis Diagnosed at the First Visit in an ENT Outpatient Clinic

In recent years, the prevalence of syphilis has become a social concern, and the number of patients has been increasing throughout Japan. Our hospital is in the center of Osaka, and over the past 6 years, we have diagnosed 10 cases of syphilis at our department. Of the 10 patients, 9 were male and 1 was female, with a median age of 30.5 years. The chief complaints were persistent tonsillitis/pharyngitis in 7 cases, induration of the upper lip in 1 case, and left cervical swelling in 2 cases. One case with a chief complaint of cervical swelling had a suspicious mass lesion in the left oropharynx, which required to be differentiated from malignant lymphoma and oropharyngeal cancer.