Syphilitic gastritis: demonstration of Treponema pallidum with the use of fluorescent treponemal antibody absorption complement and immunoperoxidase stains

Abstract

Because of the decrease in the overall incidence of syphilis, syphilitic involvement of stomach is seldom reported in the modern literature. Because of the nonspecific symptoms and signs of the disease, it is necessary to demonstrate Treponema pallidum in the gastric lesions to confirm the diagnosis. With the use of immunofluorescence and immunoperoxidase methods we have succeeded in identifying T. pallidum in the gastric wall of a patient who initially had cutaneous manifestations of secondary syphilis and gastric symptoms.