Secondary syphilis presenting as leucoderma syphiliticum: case report and review

• Autor(a) principal: Eyer-Silva, Walter de Araujo
• Data de Publicação: 2017
• Outros Autores: Martins, Carlos José, Silva, Guilherme Almeida Rosa da, Acakpovi, Giresse, Pinto, Jorge Francisco da Cunha
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de São Paulo
• Texto Completo: https://www.revistas.usp.br/rimtsp/article/view/140694
• topic: HIV infection; Leucoderma syphiliticum; Syphilis

Leucoderma syphiliticum (LS), originally described as syphilide pigmentaire, encompasses a spectrum of dyschromic lesions that emerge during the course of secondary syphilis. Very few case reports are available in modern biomedical databases. We present the case of a 57-year-old HIV-infected male patient who presented with several round to oval, non-scaling, slightly raised and well-demarcated hypochromic lesions scattered over the trunk, abdomen, dorsum, and arms. Prior non-treponemal tests were negative for syphilis, but novel studies yielded positive results at high titers. Skin lesions slowly regressed and the hypochromic areas repigmented a few weeks after benzathine penicillin G treatment. This is the first report of LS in an HIV-infected patient. A review of modern and ancient literature was performed. The present case report emphasizes the need for clinicians to have a heightened awareness of the varied and unusual clinical phenotypes of syphilis.