I
am Treponema pallidum and I cause Syphilis in humans!
I am known as a spirochete, which means that my cells are spiral shaped. I am spread by sexual contact and my infection starts off asymptomatic apart from a small skin lesion at the point of initial exposure. Between 1 and 6 months after infection, I start to work my magic. You might get a rash, enlarged lymph nodes, sore throat, fever, weight loss, headache and other bothersome symptoms. I can be spread to others at this point, which is cool for me and not so cool for those being infected.
Maybe I'll stay in a latent form so that I can be spread to lots of others without my victim realizing they are ill. Or maybe I will progress to late stage syphilis. This might take me a year, maybe 10 years or even half a century. Sometimes, late stage syphilis turns my victims crazy. I can be treated with penicillin though, if diagnosed in time.
Some famous people who were thought to have suffered from syphilis include Hitler, Mussolini, Ivan the Terrible and Al Capone.
