A 21-Year-Old College Student Presents to the University Campus Clinic

Multiple Choice

A 21-year-old college student presents to the university campus clinic. The nurse collects the patient's medical history and performs an initial assessment. The patient states, "I'm having a herpes flair, and I need a prescription for acyclovir." The nurse examines the lesion on the shaft of his penis. The ulcer is 2 cm in size and seems painless and hard upon palpation.
-The student states,"My friend had syphilis,but the lesion healed without antibiotics.Do I really need to take medications?" What is the best response by the nurse?  

A) The lesion will probably heal independently,but antibiotics will make it heal faster.
B) The lesion will heal on its own,but latent syphilis will cause serious disease later on and must be treated.
C) Syphilis is primarily viral in nature so an antibiotic is used to prevent bacterial infection of the healing lesion.
D) Antibiotics will protect you from contracting other sexually transmitted infections while the lesion is healing.