What is the Difference Between Syphilis and Gonorrhea

The key difference between syphilis and gonorrhea is that syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease caused by Treponema palladium, while gonorrhea is a sexually transmitted disease caused by Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are infections that pass from one person to another through sexual contact. This contact can usually be vaginal, oral, or anal sex. But sometimes, they can spread through other intimate physical contacts as well. There are more than twenty types of STDs. The major ones include chlamydia, genital herpes, gonorrhea, HIV/AIDS, HPV, pubic lice, syphilis, and trichomoniasis.

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Syphilis
3. What is Gonorrhea
4. Similarities – Syphilis and Gonorrhea
5. Syphilis vs Gonorrhea in Tabular Form
6. Summary – Syphilis vs Gonorrhea

What is Syphilis?

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease caused by a pathogen called Treponema palladium. This disease starts as a painless soreness, typically on the genitals, rectum, or mouth. Normally, syphilis spreads from person to person via skin or mucous membrane contact with these sores. After the initial infection, the bacteria can remain inactive in the body for decades before becoming active again.

Syphilis is divided into three stages: early syphilis (3 weeks to 6 weeks), secondary syphilis (6 weeks to 6 months), and tertiary syphilis (after 6 months). Early syphilis has symptoms like sores called chancres occurring on the genitals, anus, rectum, or around the mouth. Secondary syphilis presents symptoms like copper penny rash on the palms on hands and soles of the feet, different rashes on the other parts of the body, moist wart-like lesions in the groin, white patches inside the mouth, swollen lymph glands, fever, hair loss, and weight loss. Tertiary syphilis has symptoms, including problems in the heart, brain, and nerves. People also could become paralyzed, blind, deaf, get dementia, or impotence by tertiary syphilis.

Figure 01: Syphilis (Secondary Stage – Rash on the Hand)

Syphilis can be diagnosed through physical examination, blood tests, and testing cerebrospinal fluid. Furthermore, the recommended treatment for primary, secondary, or tertiary syphilis is a single injection of penicillin.

What is Gonorrhea?

Gonorrhea is a sexually transmitted disease caused by Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Signs and symptoms in men include painful urination, pus-like discharge from the tip of the penis, and pain or swelling in one testicle. The signs and symptoms in women include increased vaginal discharge, painful urination, vaginal bleeding after intercourse, and abdominal or pelvic pain. The other symptoms may include pus-like discharge from the rectum, spots of bright red blood on toilet tissue, straining during bowel movement, eye pain, sensitivity to light, pus-like discharge from one or both eyes, sore throats, swollen lymph nodes in the neck, warm, swollen red joints, and extremely painful joints during movement.

Syphilis and Gonorrhea - Side by Side Comparison

Figure 02: Neisseria gonorrhoeae

Gonorrhea can be diagnosed through physical examinations, urine tests, and testing swabs of the affected area. Furthermore, the treatments for gonorrhea include ceftriaxone antibiotic injections, oral azithromycin antibiotic or oral gemofloxacin antibiotic for adults, and ceftriaxone antibiotic 25 to 50mg/kg body weight intravenously for babies.

What are the Similarities Between Syphilis and Gonorrhea?

Syphilis and gonorrhea are two different sexually transmitted diseases.
Both are major sexually transmitted diseases.
They are caused by bacteria.
Both diseases cause rashes on different parts of the body.
These diseases are treated by antibiotics.

What is the Difference Between Syphilis and Gonorrhea?

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease caused by Treponema palladium, while gonorrhea is a sexually transmitted disease caused by Neisseria gonorrhoeae. This is the key difference between syphilis and gonorrhea. Furthermore, syphilis is more common in men than women, while gonorrhea is seen in both men and women equally.

The following table summarizes the difference between syphilis and gonorrhea.

Summary – Syphilis vs Gonorrhea

Syphilis and gonorrhea are two sexually transmitted diseases. Syphilis is caused by Treponema palladium, while gonorrhea is caused by Neisseria gonorrhoeae. This summarizes the difference between syphilis and gonorrhea.

Reference:

1. “Gonorrhea.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 5 Oct. 2021.
2. “Syphilis.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 25 Sept. 2021.