Syphilis And HIV/AIDS

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Throughout history, diseases have plagued humanity. Syphilis and Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) are two diseases, which have had significant impacts on the development of medicine. Due to the discovery of antibiotics such as penicillin, doxycycline, and tetracycline, syphilis is no longer prevalent in society and considered a serious disease. The symptoms of syphilis and the effects it had on people are nothing but a distant memory in the collective memory of society. Many people are unaware of syphilis and therefore unable to recognize its resemblance to the one of the most serious diseases of modern medicine, HIV/AIDS. Syphilis and HIV/AIDS have so many similarities that they can be considered identical twins born generations apart.
One of the most recognizable similarities between syphilis and HIV/AIDS are that both are sexually transmitted diseases. Diagnoses for these two diseases are also similar as both depend on an antibody test. The etiological agents for these diseases are difficult to detect, the symptoms are ambiguous, and the progression of the disease from infection to symptoms can take years. Syphilis and HIV/AIDS commonly infect people with compromised immune systems and the treatments for both diseases are extremely toxic. People in third-world countries, people of low socio-economic status, and minorities are among the frequently affected. Society negatively associates both diseases with promiscuity and prostitution. The diseases syphilis and HIV/AIDS have many similarities throughout history.
Syphilis is caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum of the subspecies pallidum. Treponema pallidum is not a zoonotic disease and therefore almost all cases of syp...

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... produces can be measured. (Chesney and Folkman, 1999) A positive result is identified by a polymerase chain reaction and the presence of the specific antibody.
Syphilis remained a problem up until the discovery of penicillin, which significantly lowered its recorded cases from 71 in 100,000 cases in 1943 to only 4 in 100,000 cases in 1956. (Brandt, 1988) During the 1960’s there was a resurgence of syphilis that people attributed to the Three P’s (permissiveness, promiscuity, and the pill) as well as a decrease in the funding for venereal disease programs. (Brandt, 1988) During the 1970’s and 1980’s, syphilis again became prevalent with a disproportionate amount of recorded cases occurring within the homosexual community. (Hook and Marra, 1992) As a result of these changes in the homosexual community during the 1980’s, the number of recorded cases of syphilis among

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