Primary syphilis in the oral cavity.

Abstract

The apparent increase in oro-genital activity in both homosexual and heterosexual population groups has focused the physician's attention on a neglected part of the anatomy. As a result, gonococcal pharyngitis was rediscovered (Fiumara, 1971). With about three million people infected with gonorrhoea each year in the United States, it is understandable that there is no dearth of patients recognized as having gonococcal pharyngitis. On the other hand, with only about 80,000 cases of primary and secondary syphilis occurring each year, the chance of primary syphilis occuring in the mouth would be infrequent, so that these lesions sometimes go unrecognized. The diagnosis of primary syphilis in the mouth of a patient seen recently has prompted this report of