Abstract: Syphilis is a sexually transmitted bacterial disease caused by Treponema pallidum. It is related to the skin diseases, Yaws and Pinta. Yaws probably entered the New World with the first inhabitants. At some stage, yaws mutated to the sexually transmitted syphilis. Syphilis was present in the Americas prior to the European invasions. Columbus’ sailors contracted the disease and took it back to Europe. They left some European diseases behind. This is known as the Columbian exchange. Syphilis was devastating. Known originally as the Great Pox, it acquired the name Syphilis from a popular poem. It infected many important personages and was essentially incurable until penicillin was discovered. One result was the Tuskegee Syphilis Study in which poor black farmers were denied treatment in order to study the natural course of the infection. We have not brought syphilis under control and the number of cases in the United States is rising.
Publication Year: 2022
Publication Date: 2022-01-01
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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