Throughout the ages, while the origins to this day continue to be debated, the strength and potency of the disease have rarely been in question. Syphilis, while not viewed as a huge threat due to a decreased number of cases in the mid-late 1990s, needs to be taken more seriously by the public because it is more dangerous than many realize, especially because it is extremely contagious, it is extremely elegant in the symptoms it produces, it has played a larger part in history than many would think, and there is a certain stigma which surrounds the disease, which in turn pushes individuals away from receiving the necessary testing. There is little at face value that would alert an educated individual to the severity and the danger of Syphilis – the bacterium which causes syphilis, Treponema pallidum, appears as nothing more than a simple bacterium. The bacterium is spiral in shape, and is classified as Gram Negative (meaning that the bacterium lacks a thick layer of peptidoglycan in its cell wall). Syphilis infects it's victims through a limited number of ways – the most common way, however, is by entrance through chafed, cracked skin and through mucous membranes. Because of this, Syphilis is so effectively transmitted through sexual contact and sexual activity that it is primarily known as a Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI). However, Syphilis does not limit itself to only the aforementioned modes of transportation. The disease is also effectively transmitted through blood transfusions, not to mention the passing of Syphilis from mother to child in the womb during pregnancy (CDC 2007). The history of Syphilis itself is one tangled and wrapped up in the histories of other diseases, social movements, and sciences. To... ... middle of paper ... ...98560903295709 McGough, L. (2010). Gender, sexuality, and syphilis in early modern Venice: the disease that came to stay. Basingstoke [England]; New York, NY : Palgrave Macmillan, 2010. Kershaw, S. (August 12, 2007). Syphilis Cases on the Increase in New York City. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/12/nyregion/12syphilis.html McNeil, D. (September 14 2011). Lapses by American Leaders Seen in Syphilis Tests. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/14/health/14syphilis.html Kent ME, Romanelli F (February 2008). "Reexamining syphilis: an update on epidemiology, clinical manifestations, and management". Ann Pharmacother 42 (2): 226–36. doi:10.1345/aph.1K086 U.S. National Library of Medicine. (September 15 2010). Neurosyphilis. PubMed Health. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001722
Prior to the beginning of the study, the doctors decided to withhold the official diagnosis from their patients. Instead, of telling the patients that they were infected with syphilis they chose to tell them they had bad blood. This was a decision made as a group, however, the provider’s individual reasoning was different. Miss Evers wanted to tell them
The stigma of syphilis was because the symptoms were disastrous. Severe neurological (dementia, deafness, and mental illness), cardiovascular (heart attack, stroke), skin lesions and rashes all over the body, and death. Mercury and sulfuric elements were used to cure it until 1943 when penicillin came along. There 300,000 new cases of syphilis every year. Macon County, Alabama which was a primality black populated area had 35% infected with syphilis. With the great depression going on the budget, on curing syphilis Macon County was cut. In 1932, a new study was being constructed to effects of syphilis on the black
Syphilis is a bacterial infection that most commonly spreads by sexual contact that starts as a painless sore. There are four stages to this disease; primary, secondary, latent and late. The primary stage is
Plagues and Peoples. By William H. McNeill. (New York: Anchor Books: A division of Random House, Inc., 1976 and Preface 1998. Pp. 7 + 365. Acknowledgements, preface, map, appendix, notes, index.)
Unknown, Discover Staff. 1996. "The origin of Syphilis." Discover. October. Vol. 17, n10, pg23 (3)
In 1929, under a grant from the Julius Rosenwald Fund, the United States Public Health Service (USPHS) set out to conduct a study in the rural South to determine the prevalence of syphilis among the poor black population, and whether mass treatment for this disease would be attainable. During their primary survey for locations, the USPHS came across Macon County, Alabama, where the town of Tuskegee is located. They found Macon County to have the highest syphilis rate out of the other half dozen counties surveyed. This area was also referred to as the “Black Belt”, due to its rich soil and vast number of poor black sharecroppers. Through this short study, it was concluded that mass treatment could be successfully implemented among these rural blacks. This came at bad timing though, for the economy crashed in 1929, and these findings were of course ignored.
The Tuskegee Study was carried in and around Tuskegee in Macon County, Alabama, from 1932 to 1972. The United States Public Health Service (USPHS) initiated the study to gather more information about the effects of untreated syphilis in African American males. The subjects comprised of 399 African American males who were presumably in the late stage of syphilis which was not contagious. These subjects only received some initial treatment after which they were kept on aspirin and iron tonic under the assurance of being treated. The study also consisted of 200 controls who were subjects without the disease. They, too, were cared for and administered similar medications. (Reverby, S.M., 2009)
The researcher recruited 400 subjects by lying to them outright about providing treatment for bad blood. The actual purpose of the study was to examine the natural progression of untreated syphilis in the poor black men. When this study was conceived there were few treatments for syphilis and none of them worked well. However, in the late 1930s and early 1940, penicillin became available, and by 1947 was the standard of care for treating syphilis. After an effective treatment for syphilis became available to the public the researches denied it to their subjects. As a result, by the end of the study, some people died from syphilis or related complication, wives had been infected with syphilis and children had been born with congenital
The disease was viewed as a black man’s disease due to its vast spread in the black race community. In this chapter, it is clear that the medical fraternity had formed opinion of the disease even before the start of the experiment. The theme of racial prejudice is brought out clearly in this chapter. The blacks are discriminated from the whites even after learning that syphilis can affect both races alike. The slaves received treatment like their masters just because of economic concerns and not because they were human like their masters. In chapter 3 “Disease Germs Are the Most Democratic Creatures in the World”, the writer points out that the germ theory changed the way syphilis is viewed in the society. It was clear that other emphasis such as sanitation, education and preventative medicine was necessary to combat the disease. The areas inhabited by the blacks were behind in healthcare facilities and service. In this chapter, the theme of unequal distribution of resources is seen. Whereas areas inhabited by the whites had better hospitals and qualified professionals to deal with the
The disease has been known under many names during history due to debate of its origin. Nations after nations have blamed one another as result of its aftermath, the French would say its the German diseas, the German would then say its the spanish disease and inturn the spanish would call it the Italian disease. Throughout history, Syphilis had, had a prominent role in history and literature for the last several hundred years. Since its recognition in 15th-century Europe as a new disease, syphilis has been the subject of great mystery and legend. Mainly where did the disease originate from?.
Prevalence: There are more than 12 million cases of syphilis worldwide. It is more common in Sub-Sahara Africa, South and Southeast Asia, Latin America and Caribbean. In the United States, the District of Columbia is number one for most syphilis cases with 95.3 per 100,000 people. Louisiana is second with 38.9 cases. The South harbors a little less than half of all cases of syphilis in the U.S. Also 75% of people affected in the U.S. are men who have sex with men.
The medical researchers of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study failed to gain the proper informed consent by explaining to the subjects they had a diagnosis of syphilis. Rather, the researchers decided to deceive the men to believe they were receiving special treatment from the Us Public Health Service for their “bad blood”...
AIDS isn’t a disease people have known about since the 1800s. In fact, it wasn’t even known as AIDS until a couple years after its discovery in the 1980s. Before, it was called Gay Related Immunodeficiency Disease, or GRID (“Natural History of HIV/AIDS”). And because of the fact it wasn’t discovered until the 1980s, people feared the disease and still do to this day. It’s been thirty years and many are still not properly educated about AIDS (Hawkins 16). The fear, stigmatization, and discrimination of people with AIDS and the disease in general have many underlying factors. People have feared and still fear AIDS today because of their misunderstanding of how AIDS is spread, their dislike of homosexuality, and their preexisting prejudices against many of the groups affected by AIDS.
Syphilis has been called "The Great Pretender" because its symptoms can look like many other diseases. But syphilis typically follows a progression of stages that can last weeks, months, or years. This follows the format of three main stages, the primary stage, the secondary stage, and the latent or late
Sexually Transmitted Diseases Sexually Transmitted Diseases STDs, a.k.a venereal diseases, infectious diseases passed from one person to another during sexual contact. STDs are the most common infections known. More than 12 million people in the United States, including 3 million teenagers, are infected with STDs every year. The United States has the highest STD rate in the world about one in ten Americans will contract an STD during his or her lifetime. People who do not know they are infected risk infecting their sexual partners and, in some cases, their unborn children. If left untreated, these diseases may cause pain or may destroy a woman's ability to have children. Some STDs can be cured with a single dose of antibiotics, but AIDS cannot be cured. Those most at risk for contracting STDs are people who have unprotected sex—without using a condom, people who have multiple partners, and people whose sex partners are drug users who share needles. Static’s show that Americans between the ages of 16 and 24 are most likely of catching STDs than older adults, because younger people usually have multiple sexual partners than an older person in a long-term relationship. Teenagers may be embarrassed to tell their sexual partners they are infected Teenagers may also be embarrassed or unable to seek medical attention for STDs. This means that they only more likely to pass the disease to other young people and have a greater risk of suffering the long-term consequences of untreated STDs. STDs are transmitted by infectious bacteria, viruses, parasites, fungi, and single-celled organisms called protozoa that live in warm, moist parts of the body, like the genital area, mouth, and throat. Most STDs are spread while having sex, but oral sex can also spread disease. Some STDs are passed from a mother to her child while pregnant, when the disease enters the baby's bloodstream, during childbirth as the baby passes through the birth canal, or after birth, when the baby drinks infected breast milk. AIDS can be transmitted by blood contact such as open wounds, between people who share infected needles or received through an injection of infected blood. Some people believe that STDs can be transmitted through shaking hands or other casual contact, or through contact with inanimate objects such as clothing or toilet seats, but they can’t. Chlamydeous, is from trachoma is bacterium, is the most commonly transmitted STD in the United States.