Syphilis Alive and Well Essay - 2401 Words

Syphilis: Alive and Well Syphilis, the word brings to mind to most a disease of the past. In truth syphilis is alive and well today and a very active participant in that select club known as sexually transmitted infections (STI). By no means is syphilis the terrible killer that it was for over 400 years. The invention of penicillin reduced the cases of syphilis astronomically. Yet, even though there is a simple treatment for syphilis, people still are infected with it today and fail to receive treatment and then infect others keeping the vicious cycle of syphilis alive. Syphilis is an infection caused by a bacteria called Treponema Pallidum (CDC, 2004). This bacteria is extremely fragile, and cannot be spread during contact with†¦show more content†¦The two main theories of the origin of syphilis are the New World/Columbian Theory and the Old World/ Pre-Columbian Theory. The New World/ Columbian Theory holds that syphilis was endemic on the island of modern day Haiti, when Christopher Columbus and his crew discovered this island in the New World. Columbus and his crew were infected by syphilis through sexual contact with the natives and then carried syphilis back to Europe in the late 1400s (Rose, 1997). This theory would make sense in that it is a great coincidence that the epidemics of syphilis that ravaged Europe only begun soon after Columbus and his crew returned from the New World. As Voltaire said, Syphilis was the first fruit gathered from the New World by the Spaniards (Hayden, 2003). Possibly syphilis was a poetic justice from the New World that reeked havoc and death on the Old World for the atrocities that it committed against the New World and its native people. The other theory on the origin of syphilis is known as the Old World/ Pre-Columbian Theory. It holds that syphilis originated in central Africa and was introduced to Europe prior to the voyage of Christopher Columbus and was unrecognized and confused with other disease such as leprosy or was actually less virulent before the late 1400s and that the social turmoil, urbanization, and promiscuity of that era created unique conditions suitable for the arrival of aShow MoreRelatedA Doll s House And Ghosts1118 Words   |  5 PagesHenrik Ibsen incorporates syphilis as a motif to represent the moral corruption that lies within the characters in A Doll’s House and Ghosts. Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease that can result in extremely fatal consequences if not treated properly and in a timely matter. Syphilis, in Ghosts, leads Mrs. Alving having to make a life-changing decision for not only herself but a person she loves dearly, her son Oswald. In A Doll’s House, Dr. Rank is infected with syphilis which not only leads toRead MoreThe Tuskegee Syphilis Study Is Still Alive1269 Words   |  6 PagesThe Tuskegee Syphilis Study is Still Alive Cells that live and multiply forever were harvested and cultured from a black woman named Henrietta Lacks. Many people made a profit off of her cells, and she nor her family knew anything about it. â€Å"Black scientists and technicians, many of them women, used cells from a black woman to help save the lives of millions of Americans, most of them white. And they did so on the same campus- and at the very same time- that state officials were conducting the infamousRead MoreMy First Week At The Clinic1613 Words   |  7 Pagesdoctor asks me what my thoughts are and I quickly scan my mental list of sexually transmitted diseases that I remember. One disease immediately comes to mind and that is syphilis. While examining the symptoms of the patient, there are quite a few things that set off some red flags. Dwight has sores. The first stage of syphilis is signified by the presence of sores, otherwise known as chancres. These chancres usually occur 10 to 21 days from conception but can take up to three months to appearRead MoreWomen During The First Half Of The Twentieth Century951 Words   |  4 Pageslaws that created to separate the societies of blacks and whites generally of inferior quality. These laws place a widespread of restrictions on African-American women in medicine; limiting their access for advancement in education, the job market, as well as, medical-services. Although historians have examined the social and economic impact of two world wars and their roles of women in medicine during the first half of the twentieth century, they have often left out the challenges and inequalities ofRead MoreThe Tuskegee Study Of Untreated Syphilis1579 Words   |  7 Pages The Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male: Research Ethics Tenzin Choeying Lehman College NUR 302 Ways of Knowing Nursing Research Faculty: Dr. Linda Scheetz 10/12/2016 In 1932, US public health service launched most shameful and hideous non-therapeutic experiment on human being in the medical history of the US. The practitioner on the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment promised free medical care to over hundreds of African American desperately poorRead MoreThe Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment : A Black Massacre1514 Words   |  7 Pages The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment: Another Black Massacre Alesha Jones History Significance of Race in America Section 009 Professor Abu Sayeed The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment was a clinical research study that took place in Macon County, Tuskegee, Alabama. The experiment was coordinated by the United States Public Health Service and carried out for forty years (Jones, 1). The experiment began in 1932 and ended in 1972, causing harm toRead MoreMusical Insanity: Music Written unde the Influence of Syphilis1440 Words   |  6 PagesMusical Insanity: Music Written Under the Influence of Syphilis While being of the most famous composers studied today, Schubert was not so loved in his time as a composer; in fact his music wasn’t appreciated until long after he had perished. Can there be a reason for this, and is the reason that he was so unloved be the same reasoning for which he wrote his works? Life experiences are an artist’s greatest muse and one can expect that Schubert was no exception to this rule that has powered composersRead MoreThe Underground Railroad Essay1530 Words   |  7 Pagesto capture him and complained that he had â€Å"gone off on some underground road.† When trains were invented it sparked people’s imagination, it changed from just a road to a railroad. The people using this secret network began to use railroad terms as well, such as stations and conductors. (Yacovone) In the next chapter, Whitehead uses a play on words.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the third chapter of The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead describes a research study of the African American residents in South CarolinaRead MoreThe Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks1425 Words   |  6 Pagesleft of the opening to her womb.† She promptly went to the local physician to go get checked. A local doctor took a look and thought the tumor was a sore from syphilis after the test coming up negative. The doctor suggested for her to go john Hopkins gynecology clinic. Henrietta medical record was one with many untreated disease such as syphilis and gonorrhea. The reason she never went back is because the hospital was an unknown and strange place to many poor black folks in this time. As Howard JonesRead MoreThe Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment Essay1547 Words   |  7 PagesTuskegee Syphilis Experiment The Tuskegee Syphilis experiment (The official name was Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male) began in the 1930’s. It was an experiment on African Americans to study syphilis and how it affected the body and killed its victims done by Tuskegee Institute U.S. Public Health Service researchers. The initial purpose of the Syphilis study â€Å"was to record the natural history of syphilis in Blacks† (Tuskegee University, â€Å"About the USPHS Syphilis Study,† par