Syphilis (sif-uh-liss) may be the most historically notable STD, having rubbed elbows (or thereabouts) with Vladimir Lenin, Toulouse-Latrec, Scott Joplin, Al Capone, Paul Gaugin, Adolph Hitler, Leo Tolstoy, Howard Hughes and many others.

How soon? After infection symptoms usually appear in two to three weeks.

What to look for: Infection with syphilis leads to an ever-evolving and ever-worsening illness if left untreated.

-- Primary Syphilis: Initially, the main symptom is a single, painless skin lesion on or near the penis.

-- Secondary Syphilis: Weeks to months after the initial infection, a flu-like illness occurs including fever, fatigue, achiness and swollen glands. The key to identifying it as syphilis is the presence of a red rash -- a rash that does something that should scream to your doctor "syphilis is running wild." The rash occurs on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. The only other rashes that occur on the palm are smallpox and 'hoof and mouth' disease; hoof and mouth occurs in small children, and smallpox ... well, smallpox theoretically now exists only in two places: a highly secure U.S. government lab and a dilapidated, long-ignored lab guarded by a pair of sleeping Russian rent-a-cops. That's may be an exaggeration, but not much of one.

-- Latent syphilis: The infection sorta goes into hibernation; having worn itself out after so much havoc. But while it may be resting, it by no means has lost power.

-- Tertiary Syphilis: At this stage, some pretty important organs come under attack: the brain, nervous system, heart, blood vessels and pretty much any organ or location in the body is fair game.

Can you get rid of it? Thankfully, yes, because we have what all those famous historical chumps didn't have: antibiotics. Obviously, the earlier it is treated the better, given the progressive worsening of the symptoms.