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Syphilis

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Bacterial Infections of Humans

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Few fields of medicine have been more carefully scrutinized by experts than syphilis.(1–4) Whether in economic, political, social, ethical, or epidemiologic arenas, syphilis has been the prototypic sexually transmitted disease (STD) control program of the 20th century.(4) Thus, the approaches taken and the measures used have been the model for control programs directed toward other STDs. In addition, many other clinical preventive services, such as those for tuberculosis, immunization, maternal and child health, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), have used concepts derived from syphilis control activities in their own prevention strategies. However, much of the epidemiological knowledge about syphilis control occurred prior to the 1950s.(4)

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Suggested Reading

  • Branch, A. M., No Magic Bullet: A Social History of Venereal Disease in the United States since 1880, Oxford University Press, New York (1985).

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, W. J., Donohue, J. F., Axnick, N. W., Blount, J. H., Ewen, N. H., and Jones, O. K., Syphilis and Other Venereal Diseases, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA (1970).

    Google Scholar 

  • Cates, W., Jr., Rothenberg, R. B., and Blount, J. H., Syphilis control: The historical context and epidemiologic basis for interrupting sexual transmission of Treponema pallidum, Sex. Transm. Dis. 23:68–75 (1996).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hook, E. W., and Marra, C. M., Acquired syphilis in adults, N. Engl. J. Med. 326:1060–9 (1992).

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  • Nakashima, A. K., Rolfs, R. T., Flock, M. L., Kilmarx, P., and Greenspan, J. R., Epidemiology of syphilis in the United States, 1941–1993, Sex. Transm. Dis. 23:16–23 (1996).

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Oxman, G. L., Smolkowski, K., and Noell, J., Mathematical modeling of epidemic syphilis transmission: Implications for syphilis control programs, Sex. Transm. Dis. 23:30–9 (1996).

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Parran, T., Shadow on the Land, Reynal and Hitchcock, New York (1937).

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmid, G. P., Serologic screening for syphilis: Rationale, cost and realpolitik, Sex. Transm. Dis. 23:51–7 (1996).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sparling, P. F., Natural history of syphilis, in: Sexually Transmitted Diseases, 2nd ed. (K. K. Holmes et al., eds.), pp. 213–9, McGraw-Hill, New York (1990).

    Google Scholar 

  • St. Louis, M. E., Strategies for syphilis prevention in the 1990s, Sex. Transm. Dis. 23:58–67 (1996).

    Google Scholar 

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA

    Anne Rompalo

  2. Family Health International, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709, USA

    Willard Cates

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  1. Anne Rompalo
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  1. Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Clifton Road NE., 1518, Atlanta, 30322, U.S.A.

    Philip S. Brachman

  2. College of Medicine, Office of Faculty Affairs, Drexel University, Race Street 1505, Philadelphia, 19102, U.S.A.

    Elias Abrutyn

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Rompalo, A., Cates, W. (2009). Syphilis. In: Brachman, P., Abrutyn, E. (eds) Bacterial Infections of Humans. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-09843-2_36

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