Hello, my mom has tested positive for syphillis. I understand that this could be a false test and that she may have Lupus. Any thoughts or suggestions? I plan to have her tested for Lupus but not sure what I need to do. Thanks

I'm sorry no one has responded to you! It is my understanding that Lupus can cause a false-positive syphillis test. But there are tests that can be run for Lupus which would tell them for sure. I was just diagnosed a couple of weeks ago. If she has a good internal medicine doctor and has a good relationship with them, I'd start there and voice her concerns. Otherwise, you could go try and Immunologist or Rheumotologist. Good luck!

Hello!

I'm new here, so this is my first post, but I am familiar with what you are talking about. When I became pregnant I was screened for all the STDs, I tested positive for syphillis. I had been previously diagnosed with ITP (low platelets -- another autoimmune disorder). Since the retest came back negative, my OBGYN decided to test me for Antiphospholipid Syndrome (There's a lot of good websites about that disorder if you do a websearch -- essentially it makes you prone to blood clots). I tested positive for APS, but at the time negative on the Lupus blood tests.

I was then treated with heparin and baby aspirin and went on to have a lovely happy and healthy baby.

Of course, a year later, I was diagnosed with Lupus, but that's another story. http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif

There are more specific tests that they can do to decide if they think the syphilis test is just a false positive caused by the presence of Lupus. I ran across this info while researching some other stuff that I printed out. Sorry I don't have the site that I got this stuff from. Fluorescent treponemal antibody-absorbed (FTA-ABS) and microhemagglutination-Trepoema pallidum (MHA-TP) assays are almost always negative in lupus patients without syphilis. Hope this helps, Ann