Bejel

Nonvenereal endemic syphilis
Classification and external resources
Specialty	Infectious disease
ICD-10	A65
ICD-9-CM	104
DiseasesDB	30090
MeSH	D014211
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Bejel, or endemic syphilis, is a chronic skin and tissue disease caused by infection by the endemicum subspecies of the spirochete Treponema pallidum.

Bejel is also known by a variety of other names, including belesh, dichuchwa, endemic syphilis, nonvenereal syphilis, frenga, njovera, skerljevo, siti, or treponematosis-bejel type.

Although the organism that causes bejel, Treponema pallidum endemicum, is morphologically and serologically indistinguishable from Treponema pallidum pallidum, which causes venereal syphilis, transmission of bejel is not venereal in nature, generally resulting from mouth-to-mouth contact or sharing of domestic utensils, and the courses of the two diseases are somewhat different.

Bejel usually begins in childhood as a small mucous patch, often on the interior of the mouth, followed by the appearance of raised, eroding lesions on the limbs and trunk. Periostitis (inflammation) of the leg bones is commonly seen, and gummas of the nose and soft palate develop in later stages.

Bejel is mainly found in arid countries of the eastern Mediterranean region and in West Africa, where it is known as sahel. (Sahel disease, which should be distinguished from "Sahel", the geographical band between the Northern Sahara and Southern Sudan.)

It is treatable with penicillin or other antibiotics, resulting in a complete recovery.

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