Abstract
Concomitant with the recent rise in HIV infections in Japan is an increase in cases of mixed infections of HIV and syphilis. Co-infection by HIV and syphilis was observed in 77 or 20% of the 341 patients serologically positive for syphilis who were seen between January of 1992 and October of 2003, in the dermatology and laboratory medicine departments of Tokyo Medical University Hospital. All the patients co-infected with HIV and syphilis were men, among whom 33 were homosexual. Patients co-infected with Syphilis recenta and HIV showed characteristically higher titers as a result of the rapid plasma reagin (RPR) and Treponema pallidum hemagglutination test (TPHA) than syphilitic patients alone. The treatment was regular doses of penicillins, mainly amoxicillin (AMPC). The dosage periods were various ; in 23 or 43% of the 53 patients, doses of four or less than four weeks were enough to treat the Syphilis recenta infection.
