Persistence of Treponema pallidum IgM antibodies in serum: What is their meaning?

Giulia Ciccarese; Elisabetta Capello; Serena Varesano; Lorenzo Giacani; Niccolò Capurro; Francesco Drago

doi:10.1016/j.diagmicrobio.2024.116341

Persistence of Treponema pallidum IgM antibodies in serum: What is their meaning?

Diagn Microbiol Infect Dis. 2024 May 7;109(3):116341. doi: 10.1016/j.diagmicrobio.2024.116341. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Giulia Ciccarese¹, Elisabetta Capello², Serena Varesano³, Lorenzo Giacani⁴, Niccolò Capurro⁵, Francesco Drago⁵

Affiliations

¹ Section of Dermatology, Department of Medical and surgical sciences, University of Foggia, Viale Pinto 1, 71122 Foggia, Italy. Electronic address: giulia.ciccarese@unifg.it.
² Clinica Neurologica, IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino, Largo Rosanna Benzi, Genoa, Italy.
³ Hygiene Section, IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino, Largo Rosanna Benzi 10, 16132 Genoa, Italy.
⁴ Department of Medicine, Division of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
⁵ Section of Dermatology, Department of Health Sciences, University of Genoa, IRCCS - Ospedale Policlinico San Martino, Genoa, Italy.

PMID: 38728874
DOI: 10.1016/j.diagmicrobio.2024.116341

Abstract

We studied the detection of Treponema pallidum (TP)-IgM antibodies in the serum of 69 patients treated for syphilis. The persistence of TP-IgM antibodies in serum for more than 3 years was the only clue to suspect an active infection and, therefore, to investigate a central nervous system involvement.

Keywords: Neurosyphilis; Syphilis; Treponema pallidum IgM antibodies.