Early syphilis, latent, unspecified

This code signifies a stage of syphilis where the patient has serologic evidence of infection but no clinical signs or symptoms of the disease, and the infection was acquired within the past year. It indicates an early, asymptomatic phase of the disease that has not been further specified as primary, secondary, or early latent.

Apply this code when documentation confirms a diagnosis of early latent syphilis without further specification of the primary or secondary stages. This is appropriate when serological tests are positive for syphilis, but the patient is asymptomatic, and the infection is known or presumed to be less than one year old.

• Do not use if the duration of latency is known to be greater than one year; instead, consider codes for late latent syphilis.
• Ensure documentation clearly states "early latent" and "unspecified" regarding primary/secondary manifestations.
• Always sequence this code after any codes for active manifestations of syphilis if present, though by definition, latent syphilis is asymptomatic.