Syphilis: History, Symptoms and Treatment

Throughout the ribald 17th century, syphilis was more widespread and devastating than AIDs is now. Hardly a subject for great literature, the diseases actually received its name as a result of a poem. Titled "Syphilus" it was written by a poet named Fracastorer in 1530, and told the sad tale of a shepherd suffering from the Great Pox.

Debate still rages about how syphilis made it to Europe. The epidemic first hit the continent in 1493. If you find something familiar about that date, you are not alone. Many historians trace the outbreak to Columbus' return from the New World, theorizing that his randy sailors brought back more than coffee and chocolate from the West Indies. At the same time, Europe was engaged in one of its seemingly endless wars and so the massive movements of many men was really all the little virus needed to take it from the heel of Italy's boot to the fjords of Scandinavia.

However, that theory has been challenged by others who offer up evidence of the effects of syphilis in several ancient Chinese texts as well as the Bible. Further cementing their claims that the virus traveled from Europe to the New World instead of vice versa is that there are no stories or evidence of New World natives suffering from any of its symptoms before Columbus sailed the ocean blue. 

It wasn't until the 19th century that it was discovered that syphilis and gonorrhea were actually two different diseasese. Phillipe Ricord, a French scientist, was examining syphilitic chancres when he made not only this discovery, but also that the disease progressess through three infectious stages.

The primary stage starts with a lesion called a chancre that typically shows up as near the point of infection: on the penis, vagina, mouth, lips or any other part of the body where an infection can occur. Normally, this chancre develops over the course of about a month, usually healing on its own in roughly one week. But that's the problem; simply because the sore disappears doesn't mean the infection will follow suit. Rather, it progresses to stage two.