The association of syphilis with cirrhosis: the role of alcohol and serum hepatitis.

The role of syphilis and alcohol was investigated in a prospective study of patients with cirrhosis of liver in Uganda, and results were correlated with the histological type of cirrhosis, and serological tests for hepatitis B antigen (HB Ag). Eighteen out of eighty (22·5%) patients with histologically-proven cirrhosis had positive serology for syphilis (VDRL and TPI). A high incidence of alcoholism (80%) and syphilis (60%) was found in patients with micronodular cirrhosis who were all negative for HB Ag. By contrast, HB Ag was detected in 37% of patients with macronodular cirrhosis who had a much smaller incidence of syphilis and alcoholism. Although chronic infection with hepatitis B virus related to HB Ag appears to be an important factor in the pathogenesis of cirrhosis in at least 30% of cases, infection acquired during past treatment for syphilis is not an important cause of the association of syphilis with cirrhosis in this population. Subdivision of patients with cirrhosis into those with and those without a history of severe alcohol abuse showed that the difference between the incidence of syphilis in the two groups is significant statistically. However, evidence of syphilis in association with non-alcoholic as well as alcoholic cirrhosis in this and other previously reported series suggests that the association between the two diseases cannot be entirely explained through the common factor of alcoholism, and other factors may also be responsible.