Genotypes of Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum and their clinical significance

With the development of genome sequencing technology, Treponema pallidum has been found to have different subspecies all around the world.It is widely recognized that Treponema pallidum could be subtyped by analyzing two or three target genes.Advances in molecular epidemiology of syphilis reveal that clinical characteristics of Treponema pallidum, such as virulence, serofast, drug resistance and the site of infection, are related to its subspecies.Specifically, 14f/f may be more virulent; serofast may be more likely to happen in patients infected with Treponema pallidum of Tpr i genotype; A2058 and A2059 genes may be related to resistance to macrolides.All these will be summarized in this review. Key words: Syphilis; Genotype; Serofast; Drug resistance