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Am Fam Physician. 2004;70(9):1646

to the editor: The article, “Diagnosis and Management of Syphilis”1 by Drs. Brown and Frank in the July 15, 2003, issue of American Family Physician is an excellent review. However, the authors should have made it clearer that the treponemal test might serorevert with effective treatment in the first episode of primary syphilis2,3 and in some patients with human immunodeficiency virus infection.4

Given the fact that a nontreponemal test might remain positive for a long time (if not forever),1,2,5 a printout that shows the patient’s titers at the time the patient was considered cured should be facilitated to avoid unnecessary treatment by another physician.

Email letter submissions to afplet@aafp.org. Letters should be fewer than 400 words and limited to six references, one table or figure, and three authors. Letters submitted for publication in AFP must not be submitted to any other publication. Letters may be edited to meet style and space requirements.

This series is coordinated by Kenny Lin, MD, MPH, deputy editor.

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