The main signs of spinal consumption, one of the manifestations of spinal syphilis, are loss of knee and ankle reflexes, impaired vibration and position sensation in the lower extremities, and a positive closed-eye refractory sign. The central infection of syphilis begins with syphilitic meningitis (about 1/4 of all syphilitic infections), a large proportion of which is asymptomatic meningitis that can only be detected by lumbar puncture, and a small proportion of which manifests as a more severe meningitis dominated by cerebral nerve palsy, epilepsy, and increased intracranial pressure. Syphilitic meningitis can go through an asymptomatic phase for several years before eventually entering a phase of brain or spinal cord parenchymal involvement, which includes meningeal vascular syphilis, paralytic dementia, spinal consumption, and syphilitic spinal myelitis. Syphilis is caused by infection with a slender, spiral-shaped, motile microorganism known as the pale spirochete. The dense spirochete often enters the central nervous system after 3 to 18 months of infection. If the cerebrospinal fluid examination is completely negative after 2 years of infection, the chance of developing central syphilis is 1/20; if the cerebrospinal fluid examination is completely negative after 5 years of infection, the chance is reduced to 1/100. The main symptoms are lightning-like pain, sensory ataxia and urinary incontinence, and the main signs are loss of knee and ankle reflexes, impaired vibration and position perception of the lower extremities. More than 90% of the patients have pupillary abnormalities, which are usually characterized by a-lo pupils, i.e., bilateral pupils of unequal size, narrowing and irregularity, and loss of light reflexes, but the presence of modulation reflexes. Most patients have drooping lids and varying degrees of ocular muscle paralysis, and optic nerve atrophy is also common.