Doctors are being warned that a surge of Indigenous patients with undiagnosed neurosyphilis is likely in the Top End in coming years — a legacy of a long-running outbreak of Treponema pallidum infection.

Neurosyphilis is already considered a differential diagnosis for patients presenting with dementia or stroke in the NT, the Royal Australasian College of Physicians congress in Auckland was told this week.

It is noticeable that patients being worked up for dementia or stroke are returning more positive treponemal serology screening tests, says Royal Darwin Hospital trainee physician Dr Johanna Birrell.

“We were finding it was not uncommon for the syphilis serology to come back positive in these patients — prompting concerns for underlying neurosyphilis,” she said.