Is syphilis curable?

According to the Centers for Disease Control, syphilis can be treated and cured using antibiotics. Fast treatment is recommended to prevent the spread of this disease to others and to prevent complications that syphilis can cause.

Although antibiotics can be used for treatment of syphilis during any of its stages, it is often not discovered until it has begun to cause irreversible damage. Everyone with whom the infected person has had sex should be examined and tested as soon as possible after diagnosis, according to the Centers for Disease Control. As WebMD explains, penicillin is generally prescribed for treatment of the disease, and it works by killing the bacterium that causes syphilis.