Why won't my Syphilis go away?

[OOSteven]

I have abstained from sex for close to years now and yet I am told that I tested positive for syphilis (again).  Can the desease hide in the body and come again, yes i have HIV and a low CD4 count but i have been treated 7 times now and it' impossible that I contracted it

[auntiejessi]

What kind of testing are you having done, and what are the results?

To be considered cured, they look for a 4-fold drop in your titer (e.g., from 1:16 to 1:4 or from 1:8 to 1:32). On some tests, you may always be positive, but it should be a really low number. They should also be using the same tests to compare your results every time you test, and using confirmatory tests.

Do you trust your doctors? Are they specialists?

Yes, your HIV may come into play here. You can read about some special considerations here - https://www.cdc.gov/std/tg2015/syphilis.htm#hiv You can also make sure you were treated correctly, though the treatment regimen is the same.

[OOSteven]

3/22/2015   1/10/17            7/3/17                      5/10/18                2/4/19
Reactive     Equivocal      Non-Reactive      Non-Reactive    Reactive
1:2                 1:1                                                                                   1:1

I keep shots of Penicillian sometimes 3 sometimes 1  

[auntiejessi]

Those are really, really low, and would probably indicate an old infection to me, but what is the name of the test? On some of the tests, you may test positive with an old infection that's been cured.

Why is it equivocal on 1/10/17 and reactive on 2/4/19 when you had the same result?

[GuitarRox]

That is a mystery!  Assuming you were treated for syphilis the first time and they tested after to make sure it was completely gone? You can have syphilis in the latent phase where you have no symptoms but that would typically be the case if you weren't treated.  You tested negative after your initial treatment?