Immunologic mechanisms of infectious syphilis.
We believe that humoral and cellular immunity both are involved in the response of the host to infection with T. pallidum. A complex interaction between stimulation and suppression of cell-mediated immunity may be involved. This interaction may explain the unusual clinical course in which secondary syphilis waxes and wanes before culminating in immunity.
D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D007109:Immunity; D007111:Immunity, Cellular; D011817:Rabbits; D013587:Syphilis / Q000276:immunology*