In our daily outpatient work, we often encounter people who undergo a pregnancy test or a routine pre-conception assistance test and the results of the infection series are reported as: syphilis antibody (+). Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease caused by the pale (syphilis) spirochete, which is transmitted mainly through sexual contact. Is a positive syphilis antibody infectious or not? Does it mean that the friend has syphilis? First of all, syphilis antibodies may be false positive. From the pathological mechanism of syphilis spirochete infection, it generally appears two kinds of antibodies: one is the specific antibody (TPHA), which has a protective effect on the body’s re-exposure to syphilis. Even if syphilis has been treated and is not infectious, TPHA may still exist in the body for a long time or even for a lifetime, so patients with cured syphilis still have positive TPHA when they are examined, but in fact, they are not infectious; the other is non-specific antibody (RPR), which is not highly disease-specific, so certain autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus and scleroderma may also show false positive reactions, but generally the RPR is weak, which means there is a possibility of false positive syphilis antibodies. Therefore, when your test returns positive for syphilis antibodies, don’t be too anxious! Our doctors need to assess the severity of the disease based on screening and titer tests. In general the serum syphilis antibody test (TPPA) is a screening test with the possibility of false positives, and the need for treatment depends on the titer test. The titer is expressed as 1:1, 1:2, 1:16… The higher the latter number indicates the higher the titer and the more severe the disease. The results of your test may appear as follows: (1) if TPPA (+), toluidine red does not heat the serum test that is TRUST (-), combined with medical history and treatment history, etc., can be a previous syphilis infection or TPPA false positive, generally do not need treatment; (2) if TPPA (-), TRUST (-), generally can exclude syphilis; (3) other TPPA (-), TRUST (+) ), TRUST (+) is a false positive syphilis antibody; (4) If TPPA (+), TRUST (+), you need to consider whether you are infected with syphilis, you should find a regular tertiary care hospital dermatologist to give you a scientific assessment and standardize scientific treatment! In addition, in some physiological states, such as pregnant women, false positive syphilis antibodies can also occur. Our doctors will analyze your clinical data together, and will not jump to conclusions based on the test results alone, so please do not blindly panic and rush to the doctor. Of course, if you do have syphilis or latent infection, you should actively treat it.