Syphilis as a diagnosis of liver abnormalities in HIV

Abstract

In order to investigate syphilitic liver involvement in HIV-infected patients, a single-centre retrospective study of a cohort of HIV-infected patients with syphilis was performed at the Infectious Diseases Clinic of Perugia, Italy, between December 2002 and March 2010. Fifty HIV-infected patients were identified with syphilis plus baseline and follow-up liver tests. The following syphilis diagnoses were recorded: 19 secondary (38%), 26 latent (52%), and 5 tertiary/neurosyphilis (12%). Syphilitic hepatitis was found in 5/50 (10%) patients. This finding supports the importance of including syphilis in the differential diagnosis of liver enzyme abnormalities in HIV-infected patients. An early diagnosis of syphilitic hepatitis can lead to rapid normalization of liver function following appropriate therapy, prevents the progression of syphilis, and limits the further spread of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV.

Keywords::

• HIV
• syphilis
• hepatitis
• alkaline phosphatase
• γ-glutamyl transpeptidase

Declaration of interest: No funding resources to declare; no conflicts of interest to declare.