Historical Evidence of Syphilis and Other Treponemes
By Laura J. McGough and Emily Erbelding
from: Pathogenic Treponema: Molecular and Cellular Biology (Edited by: Justin D. Radolf and Sheila A. Lukehart). Caister Academic Press, U.K. (2006)
Abstract
This chapter explains the methodological and theoretical issues that historians face in researching the history of syphilis and other treponemes. Differences in disease definitions make simple comparisons between past and present difficult. On the other hand, a wealth of newly tapped historical material regarding mortality, demography, and population movements makes it possible to reach some conclusions about the early history of the late fifteenth century epidemic. Wartime played a critical role in producing the syphilis-or French disease-epidemic in the Italian peninsula, which apparently was recognized as a new disease, not just a clinical misdiagnosis of leprosy. Evidence does not support the claim that the disease was unusually virulent during this period. The disease's association with sexuality, later understood as sexual transmission as contagion theory became accepted, complicated descriptions of the disease. Prejudices about the sexual behaviors of different races, ethnic groups, or social classes often contributed to the confusion between venereal syphilis and other treponemal diseases. A collaborative research project between scientists and historians focusing on an ecological history of disease could yield more definitive conclusions about the history of treponemal transmission read more ...
