SYPHILIS AND THE NEED FOR TREATMENT
"Syphilis is a greater menace to the public health than any other single infectious disease ... "
- Captain Edward B. Vedder, Surgeon General of the USPHS (1920)
FEAR OF SYPHILIS
Although syphilis continued to spread in the United States in the early 1900s, the only available treatments, mercury and arsenic, had little efficacy. As venereal diseases faced growing social stigma, doctors felt obligated to discover the cure for syphilis.
"Studies of the venereal diseases are not being conducted in this country to an extent commensurate with the public-health importance of these diseases or with the need for added knowledge in their control. Very few trained investigators and well-equipped institutions are devoting their energies to fundamental studies of syphilis..." - Assistant Surgeon General Thomas Parran (1932)
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Images taken from Library of Congress.
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THE OSLO STUDY
"The findings of Bruusgaard of Oslo on the results of untreated syphilis became available in 1929. The Oslo study was a classic retrospective study involving the analysis of 473 patients at three to forty years after infection. For the first time, as a result of the Oslo study, clinical data were available to suggest the probability of spontaneous cure, continued latency, or serious or fatal outcome."
- Tuskegee Syphilis Study Ad Hoc Advisory Panel (1972)
A clip from the documentary "The Deadly Deception"
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In 1891, Caesar Boeck began the Oslo study in Norway to analyze the development of untreated syphilis in Caucasians. The study highlighted "that syphilis has a deleterious effect on the health and welfare of its victims" ("Statement of Vernal" 1973).
"This summary of Bruusgaard's study is by no means intended to suggest that syphilis be allowed to pass untreated." - Tuskegee Syphilis Study Ad Hoc Advisory Panel (1972)
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