11/15/13 Syphilis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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The earliest known medical

illustration of patients suffering from

syphilis, Vienna, 1498

was followed by trials of penicillin and confirmation of its effectiveness in 1943.[13][38] Before the advent ofeffective treatment, mercury and isolation were commonly used, with treatments often worse than the

disease.[38]

Many famous historical figures, including Franz Schubert, Arthur Schopenhauer, and Édouard Manet,[13] arebelieved to have had the disease.

Society and culture

Arts and literature

See also: Notable cases of syphilis

The earliest known depiction of an individual with syphilis is AlbrechtDürer's Syphilitic Man, a woodcut believed to represent a

Landsknecht, a Northern European mercenary.[40] The myth of thefemme fatale or "poison women" of the 19th century is believed tobe partly derived from the devastation of syphilis, with classicexamples in literature including John Keats' La Belle Dame sans

Merci.[41][42]

The artist Jan van der Straet painted a scene of a wealthy manreceiving treatment for syphilis with the tropical wood guaiacum

sometime around 1580.[43] The title of the work is "Preparation andUse of Guayaco for Treating Syphilis". That the artist chose to includethis image in a series of works celebrating the New World indicateshow important a treatment, however ineffective, for syphilis was to theEuropean elite at that time. The richly colored and detailed workdepicts four servants preparing the concoction while a physician lookson, hiding something behind his back while the hapless patient

drinks.[44]

Tuskegee and Guatemala studies

See also: Tuskegee syphilis experiment and Syphilis experiments in Guatemala

One of the most infamous United States cases of questionable medical ethics in the 20th century was the

Tuskegee syphilis study.[45] The study took place in Tuskegee, Alabama, and was supported by the U.S. Public

Health Service (PHS) in partnership with the Tuskegee Institute.[46] The study began in 1932, when syphilis was

a widespread problem and there was no safe and effective treatment.[6] The study was designed to measure theprogression of untreated syphilis. By 1947, penicillin had been validated as an effective cure for syphilis and wasbecoming widely used to treat the disease. Study directors, however, continued the study and did not offer the

participants treatment with penicillin.[46] This is debated, and some have found that penicillin was given to many

of the subjects.[6] The study did not end until 1972.[46]

Syphilis experiments were also carried out in Guatemala from 1946 to 1948. They were United States-sponsored human experiments, conducted during the government of Juan José Arévalo with the cooperation ofsome Guatemalan health ministries and officials. Doctors infected soldiers, prisoners, and mental patients with