Unusual location of syphilitic chancre: case report.

Abstract

A case of secondary syphilis in which the patients still had the primary chancre is reported. The unusual clinical feature was the location of the syphilitic chancre on the arm.

Diagnosis of syphilis: Clinical and laboratory problems

“…Due to the increasing popularity of oral sex in recent years -in part because it supposedly is a safer-sex practice -an increase of oral chancres has been observed. Case reports describe syphilitic chancres of fingers, mammillae, eyelid, arm, toe or presternal region ( Figure 3) [6,15,[18][19][20]. Decades ago extragenital chancres were no rarity; Fournier describes 642 from head to toe in his textbook [21].…”

Primary syphilitic chancre on the upper arm in an HIV-1-infected patient

“…1–3 Extragenital syphilitic chancres may occur at least in 5% of patients with syphilis, 4 usually affecting sexually exposed sites of the human body including the rectum, lips, 5 oral cavity, 6 tongue 7–9 or nipple. 10,11 To our knowledge only three cases of syphilitic chancres have been observed on the arm, 12 hand 13 and finger, 14 respectively. Our case report however is the first to show an extragenital syphilitic chancre on the upper arm in a patient with HIV-1 infection.…”

Presternal Indurated Ulceration: Primary Syphilis

“…Case reports of syphilitic chancres exist for the occurrence on the fi nger, nipple, eyelid, arm and toe [1,2,[7][8][9]17] . A truncal occurrence as in our patient is extremely rare, at least nowadays.…”

“…There have been only a few case reports of syphilitic chancres in the head area, on fi ngers, on hands or on the arm over the last decades [1,[5][6][7][8][9] . In view of the exceptional location the following case history is presented.…”