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.

Title	Published in	Year	Views	Downloads

Psycho-sexological impact(s) of syphilis among infected persons	Journal of sexual health psychology	2024	47	137
Étude exploratoire sur les conséquences psychologiques et sexologiques de la syphilis chez les personnes infectées		2022	124	0

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Bornhauser, Pénélope Edith