Three subspecies of T. pallidum are known:
• Treponema pallidum pallidum, which causes syphilis
• T. … See more

The chromosomes of the T. pallidum species are small, about 1.14 Mbp. Their DNA sequences are more than 99.7% identical. About 92.9% of DNA was determined to be See more

Treponema pallidum was first microscopically identified in syphilitic chancres by Fritz Schaudinn and Erich Hoffmann at the Charité in Berlin in 1905. This bacterium can … See more

No vaccine for syphilis is available as of 2024. The outer membrane of T. pallidum has too few surface proteins for an antibody to be effective. Efforts to develop a safe and effective syphilis vaccine have been hindered by uncertainty about the relative importance … See more

Physiology
Treponema pallidum is a helically shaped bacterium with high motility consisting of an outer membrane, See more

The clinical features of syphilis, yaws, and bejel occur in multiple stages that affect the skin. The skin lesions observed in the early stage last for weeks or months. The skin lesions are … See more

During the early 1940s, rabbit models in combination with the drug penicillin allowed for a long-term drug treatment. These experiments established the groundwork that modern … See more