[Question #9077] Rhinitis sicca, dry nose - Syphilis
36 months ago
|
Dear Doktors,
Since 10days i have a Rhinitis sicca. I was searching in the WWW for the causes and fund the information that Syphilis can be a cause of it.
Now i am starting paniking.
10 weeks + 8 weeks ago I (men) performed an cunnilingus to 2 different CSW.
I never noticed a schancre, had fever or pain.
What is your opinion about this information and my risk.
How do a person get Rhinitis from an Syphilis infection ?
Thank you in advance and have a nice day
Since 10days i have a Rhinitis sicca. I was searching in the WWW for the causes and fund the information that Syphilis can be a cause of it.
Now i am starting paniking.
10 weeks + 8 weeks ago I (men) performed an cunnilingus to 2 different CSW.
I never noticed a schancre, had fever or pain.
What is your opinion about this information and my risk.
How do a person get Rhinitis from an Syphilis infection ?
Thank you in advance and have a nice day
![]() |
H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
36 months ago
|
Welcome to the forum and thank you for your question.
---
I am unfamiliar with rhinitis sicca, but on quick review I find it is also called atrophic rhinosinusitis. It is a nonspecific condition (meaning it has multiple causes, with no known cause in most cases). It is not mentioned in connection with syphilis in the world's published medical literature. (You can search yourself on the NIH medical library system: http://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.) I also looked at the classic textbook on syphilis by Stokes, last edition published in 1940. It notes the rare occurrence of rhinitis in children with congenital syphilis (acquired in the uterus), called "snuffles", but no other mention in the book's 1200 pages.
If you would like to provide the resource you found about rhinitis sicca and syphilis, I would be happy to take a look at it. However, this obviously is an exceedingly rare manifestation of syphilis, if it occurs at all. If it does, probably it would mostly occur in late syphilis, i.e. in persons infected a year or more. I doubt early syphilis can do it. As for your exposure, in the US, syphilis is rare in most female sex workers, and cunnilingus is an unlikely way to get it. And if you did acquire syphilis from one of the exposures several weeks ago, you probably would have had a chancre (syphilitic sore) of the mouth in the next few weeks.
So almost certainly your nose problem has nothing to do with syphilis or the sexual exposures on your mind. But there's an easy answer: have a syphilis blood test. Enough time has passed for conclusive results. A negative test will prove with 100% certainty you don't have it.
I'll be happy to comment further if you would like to be tested and let me know the result. I look forward to a follow-up comment if you choose to do so. In the meantime, please don't worry about this.
HHH, MD
------