Contracting Syphilis

**ImNotAlwaysRight** · 05-06-2010 02:59 PM

Hi all,

I wasn't sure where to put this thread but this seemed the most appropriate place.

This is an unusual request for information.

I'm currently in the process of writing my first novel. There's a child in it who's only 7 and it will be discovered that she suffers a very rare form of disease that makes her allergic to sunlight and diminishes her immune system. I've researched the disease well and in most cases, the disease affects blood test results, mainly by giving false positives.

The main false positive is Syphilis. So the child will have a blood test result that shows she's positive for it.

I'm placing this here because I don't know much about Syphilis and I wondered if there is any way it would be possible for a child of such a young age to contract it?

Until I know for sure, I can't really include it in the book. The false syphilis result is what will make the doctor realise what disease she actually has. But if a child is able to contract it in any way other than ST, then I can't use this as the doctors epiphany.

Hope you can help and thanks in advance if you can.

**ItsASecret** · 05-06-2010 05:19 PM

Well you will first have to base everything on the type of photosensitivity that you chose. There is more than one. The porphyria's like Congential Erythropoietic Porphyria is one of them but I am not sure how syphilis plays a role, if any. If you want real information you would need to contact a professional, like a pediatric dermatologist. Do not rely on the internet.

**ImNotAlwaysRight** · 05-06-2010 06:33 PM

Thanks for the reply but it doesn't answer the question.

It's SLE that she will have. She'll be rare in her age, considering the disease, but that's what will spark the epiphany. Her bloods will prove syphilis but it'll be a false positive.

I've researched all this already, all I'm asking here is whether it's possible for a child of 7 or 8 years old to contract syphilis without any sexual contact?

**ImNotAlwaysRight** · 05-06-2010 06:43 PM

(I will clarify that in SLE, syphilis, specifically, is known to show up in blood results, even though the patient doesn't have it).

**Hopeless Dork** · 05-06-2010 06:59 PM

blood transfusion? receiving tainted blood somehow? or passed from the mother during pregnancy maybe?

**ImNotAlwaysRight** · 05-06-2010 07:19 PM

Thank you Hopeless Dork (feels funny referring to you like that!).

The girl would never have had a need for a blood transfusion, so I'm guessing then, the only way she can catch it is by sexual transmission. As she's not an abused child and never had sex in the story, then it seems my storyline will be plausible.

Thanks for your input, I really appreciate it. :-)

**Hopeless Dork** · 05-06-2010 07:31 PM

Yvw, Its my knowledge that it can only be passed through sexual contact, infected mother to child during pregnancy or tainted blood (which is highly unlikely in this day and age where blood is thoroughly tested before transfused.

**ItsASecret** · 05-06-2010 08:08 PM

I was curious so I went on my trusty ncbi to see if there were any published articles that talks about BFP (biological false positive) and SLE in people. One came up that talks about the BFP in patients and how it can pop up from dermatological disease and can remain a BFP for an acute or chronic period of time. It doesn't mention anything about sexual transmission so maybe it could help?

**ItsASecret** · 05-06-2010 08:59 PM

Okay so you cannot have private messages yet because you need 32 posts but I will try to guide you with what I found. Turns out it may actually work for the case of a young child.

If you do a google search for ncbi SLE BFP syphilis you can find an article that describes patients who had a VDLR test which is broad and often comes back positive for syphilis especially in patients with SLE. To confirm that no actual syphilis is there a better more focused test is done called a FTA-ABS test-there are very few false positives with this test for syphilis so confirmation of a positive or negative result can be done.

Technically speaking the reason for a false positive in patients with SLE is that they will have a specific antibody called aPL (antiphospholipid antibody) which is very similar to the antibody used to screen for the syphilis organism. So in theory a patient, like the child in your novel who has SLE, would have this aPL antibody and when screened with the test it could come back with a false positive...and of course the doctor would be confused so the better test could be run to confirm that no syphilis is there. If the better test gives a negative result then it means no syphilis is there, forcing the doctor to find a reason for the original false positive....and the first thing he would come up with is an SLE diagnosis. No sexual transmission would be needed, no tainted blood, no injections of anything...the child would just need to have SLE.

Of course I would recommend looking further into this type of antibody stuff but in theory it does make sense lol.

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