Febrile Herxheimer reaction in different phases of primary and secondary syphilis.

Putkonen and Rehtijarvi (1950) published the results of a study on the Herxheimer reaction in early infectious syphilis. It was found that the febrile Herxheimer reaction occurs with different frequency and intensity at different stages of early syphilis and is practically absent at the latent stage of the disease. Because the number of cases of primary syphilis was rather small, the collection of data was continued. The accumulation of patients was slow until 1963 when early syphilis began to increase in Finland. This increase has made it possible for us to report on the results of a larger series of cases of primary and secondary syphilis.