+Relapses in the Nervous System and Elsewhere.+--Mucous patches are, of
course, not the only recurrences, though they are very common. At any
time a little patch of secondary eruption may appear and disappear in
the course of a short time. Recurrences are not confined to the skin,
and those which take place in the nervous system may result in temporary
or permanent paralysis of important nerves, including those of the eyes
and ears. Again, recurrences may show themselves in the form of a
general running down of the patient from time to time, with loss of
weight and general symptoms like those of the active secondary period.

The secondary period as a whole is not in itself the serious stage of
syphilis. Most of the symptoms are easily controlled by treatment if
they are recognized. Now and then instances of serious damage to sight,
hearing, or important organs elsewhere occur, but these are relatively
few in spite of the enormous numbers and wide distribution of the germs.
Accordingly, the problems that the secondary stage offers the physician
and society at large must center around the recognition of mild and
obscure cases and adequate treatment for all cases. The identification
of the former is vital because of the recurrence of extremely infectious
periods throughout this stage of the disease, and the latter is
essential because vigorous treatment, carried out for a long enough
time, prevents not only the late complications which destroy the
syphilitic himself, but does away with the menace to society that arises
through his infecting others, whether in marriage and sexual contact or
in the less intimate relations of life.