Hemorrhagic lesions of the skin occur rarely in syphilis, and in the last ten years no cases of this condition have been reported in the literature. A critical review of the literature is not easily made, as most cases of this disorder were reported in the nineteenth century. The diagnosis of syphilis was then made from the clinical picture only, and it is evident that many cases of avitaminosis, thrombopenic purpura and other blood dyscrasias were included in these early reports.
The first survey was made by Mraček, who described a series of cases of syphilis haemorrhagica neonatorum and demonstrated the pathologic changes in blood vessels and capillaries. In 1875 Bälz described 3 cases of hemorrhagic syphilis. One patient suffered from a papulosquamous syphilid with capillary bleeding combined with hemorrhage from different points and in the lungs. Finger1 summarized the literature up to 1930 and cited eleven authors: Horowitz,