| Re: Help please! is this syphilis?
The first symptom of primary syphilis is often a small, round, firm ulcer called a chancre ("shanker") at the place where the bacteria entered your body. This place is usually the penis, vulva, or vagina, but chancres can also develop on the cervix, tongue, lips, or other parts of your body. Usually there is only one chancre, but sometimes they are many. Nearby lymph glands are often swollen. (Lymph glands, or nodes, are small bean-shaped organs of your immune system containing cells that help fight off germs. They are found throughout the body.) The chancre usually appears about 3 weeks after you're infected with the bacteria, but it can occur any time from 9 to 90 days after exposure.
Because chancres are usually painless and because a chancre can occur inside your body, you might not notice it. The chancre disappears in about 3 to 6 weeks whether or not you are treated. Thus, you can go through primary syphilis without symptoms or with only brief symptoms that you overlook. If, however, primary syphilis is not treated, the infection moves to the secondary stage.
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