Clinical Profiles Of 58 Hospitalized Hiv-Negative Patients With Neurosyphilis In A General Hospital In China

BackgroundPatients with neurospyphilis have been increasingly reported from clinics in China. Symptomatic neurosyphilis is more common among HIV-positive than HIV-negative patients. Clinical data of neurosyphilis among HIV-negative patients are limited.MethodsSocio-demogeaphic and clinical data of the patients diagnosed with neurosyphilis and hospitalized at the Suzhou 5th People’s Hospital in China during January 2012 to November 2018 were collected and clinical and laboratory characteristics of these patients were analysed.ResultsOf the 58 patients enrolled into the analysis, majority (84.5%) were males. Two cases (3.4%) were diagnosed with asymptomatic neurosyphilis by evidence of only increases of protein and white blood cell count in their cerebrospinal fluids (CSF). The clinical charactistics were presented to be meningeal vascular type (defined as presentation of hemiplegia, headache, tinnitus, or epileptic attack) among 6, paralytic dementia (defined as decline in intelligence and memory, decreas of judgement sense and cognition, or mental symptoms) among 30, tabes dorsalis (defined as having manifestation such as walking instability of lower limbs, lightning pain, numbness, abnormal urination, or Arrow pupil) among 8, and ocular syphilis (defined as choroiditis,iritis, retinitis, or optic atrophy) among 12 patients, respectively. Most of the patients (84.5%) had serum RPR titers of ≥ 1:8 and two-thirds (75.9%) were positive for RPR in CSF (ranging 1:1 to 1:16). Additional CSF evaluations indicated an elevated protein in 55 and leukopenia in 57 patients. Among 30 patients with paralytic dementia, 16 (53.3%) shown a multiple lacunar foci in their brain CT or MRI, and 7 (23.3%) had cerebral atrophy.ConclusionSymptomatic neurosyphilis is common among HIV-negative patients and clinical features charactierislized majorly as neurological, psychiatric or phthalmic symptoms have call for attendtion of the relevant departments to detect these patients for interventions timely.DisclosureNo significant relationships.