**6.2 Diagnosis**

Dark field microscopic examinations and molecular tests for detecting *T. Pallidum* directly from lesion exudate are methods for diagnosing early syphilis and congenital syphilis. Another method for diagnosis is the demonstration of spirochetes in biopsy specimens stained with Warthin-Starry Silver. Alternatively, a direct fluorescent antibody test for *T. Pallidum* is performed by some laboratories (11,25).

A nontreponemal test (i.e., venereal disease research laboratory [VDRL] or rapid plasma reagin [RPR] test) and a treponemal test (*Treponema pallidum* passive particle agglutination [TP-PA] assay), chemiluminescence immunoassays [CIAs] and immunoblots, or rapid treponemal assays are the diagnostic methods of syphilis [4, 29].
