A 39-year-old man was diagnosed with syphilis in his eyes after going to hospital complaining of headaches .
The man in Sydney, Australia went to an emergency room for help after he struggled with headaches for three weeks.
He told doctors that while it hurt to move his eyes, his vision was normal.
When medics assessed the man they found his bilateral optic nerves, which send information to the brain, were swollen.
Blood tests revealed he had syphilis, according to a case report published in the most recent British Medical Journal (BMJ).
The infection, typically starts as a sore on the genitals, rectum or mouth, can spread around the body.
The man's headaches were found to be the result of the sexually transmitted disease spreading to his eyes.
According to the Mail Online , the patient told doctors he was in a same-sex open relationship and had been having casual unprotected sex with multiple partners.
Around 7,000 people in the UK, 33,189 in Europe were diagnosed with syphilis in 2017.
A further 35,000 cases of syphilis were diagnosed in the US in 2018.
According to the paper that detailed the case, an estimated 330 to 3,500 people in Europe or the US could also have had the infection spread to their eye.
The patient's experience was rare, as he had tested negative for HIV.
According to the BMJ, patients typically only experienced the disease spreading to one eye.
There had only been two cases previously reported before in scientific journals of patients who did not have HIV being diagnosed with syphilis in both eyes.
The man was treated with antibiotics and cleared the infection within two weeks, according to the case report.
In a follow-up a month later, the right optic nerve's swelling had decreased and the left optic nerve's swelling had increased.
Despite the swelling, the patient's vision remained unaffected, and he recovered symptom-free.
What is syphilis?
The bacterial infection is usually transmitted via sex, usually via contact with an infected person's sore.
If it's left untreated for years, syphilis can spread to the brain or other parts of the body and cause serious long-term problems.
It can usually be cleared with a short course of antibiotics, but can be caught more than once.
The infection can be passed on by pregnant women to their unborn babies, which carries a risk of stillbirth or miscarriage.
It can also be caught from sharing sex toys but not by using the same toilet, clothing or bathroom as an infected person.
Health experts urge anyone who suspects they have syphilis to get tested as soon as possible as it cannot clear on its own, and can cause serious problems if left untreated.
The NHS recommends finding your nearest sexual health clinic and asking for a blood test.
The test also usually involves taking a sample of fluid from any sores, using a swab.
The treatment usually involves an injection of antibiotics into the buttocks, or tablets, and infected people are warned not to have sexual contact until at least two weeks after treatment finishes.
According to the NHS, syphilis symptoms include:
- small, painless sores or ulcers that typically appear on the penis, vagina, or around the anus, but can occur in other places such as the mouth
- a blotchy red rash that often affects the palms of the hands or soles of the feet
- small skin growths (similar to genital warts ) that may develop on the vulva in women or around the bottom (anus) in both men and women
- white patches in the mouth
- tiredness, headaches , joint pains , a high temperature (fever) and swollen glands in your neck, groin or armpits
Syphilis cannot always be prevented, but risk can be reduced by practising safer sex, by using condoms and dental dams and avoiding sharing sex toys, and by not sharing needles if you use drugs.
