The Lunatic Lament - Story of Syphilis

There was a young man of Back Bay
Who thought syphilis just went away.
And thought that a chancre
Was merely a canker
Acquired in lascivious play.
Now first he got acne vulgaris,
The kind that is rampant in Paris
It covered his skin
From forehead to shin
And now people ask where his hair is.
With symptoms increasing in number,
His aorta's in need of a plumber
His hear is cavorting
His wife is aborting
And now he's acquired a gumma.
Consider his terrible plight -
His eyes won't react to the light
His hands are apraxic.His gait is ataxic.
He's developing gun-barrel sight.
His passions are strong as before
But his penis is flaccid, and sore.
His wife now has tabes
And sabre-shinned babies
She's really worse off than a whore.
There are pains in his belly and knees.
His sphincters have gone by degrees.
Paroxysmal incontinence,
With all its concomitants,
Brings on quite unpredictable pees.
Though treated in every known way,
His spirochetes grow day by day.
He's developed paresis,
Converses with Jesus,
And thinks he's the Queen of the May."

By Isaac Asimov
This poetic manifest reveals the myriad of sickening phenomenon arising from this chronic, indolent infection.

Further reading:
1. Links to emedicine on neurosyphilis

Reading: Procalcitonin

Today I was asked to order procalcitonin test for a patient with suspected infection.
The patient was well, no particular localising symptoms currently. However approximately 2 weeks ago he was treated as probable meningoencephalitis with improvment of headache & diplopia. Lab results returned normal, and an informative lab message showed:

" Procalcitonin: +ve if elevated suggestive of bacterial / parasite / fungal infections. It may not be raised in localised infection, chronic inflammation, or chronic autoimmune diseases. It is not usually elevated in fracture / surgery, and rarely exceeds 5. Procalcitonin begins to rise after onset of infection in 2hrs, peaks in 12 - 24 hours, and 1/2 life 22 - 29 hours".

Attacked reference: wikipedia (inside contain reading links)