Also known as tabes dorsalis, the
slowly progressive degeneration of the spinal cord that occurs in the late (tertiary)
phase of syphilis a decade or more after contracting the infection. Among the terrible
features are lancinating lightning-like pain, ataxia (wobbliness), deterioration of the
nerve to the eye (the optic nerve) leading to blindness, urinary incontinence, loss of the
sense of position, and degeneration of the joints (Charcot's joints). Tabes is the
Latin word for decay. The term tabes dorsalis was devised in 1836 when the cause of the
condition was thought to be wastage of the dorsal (posterior) columns of the spinal cord,
well before it was recognized as part of late syphilis.
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