The Health bulletin [serial] - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

March, 1927 The Health Bulletin 21
The Third Stage of SjT)hilis
The TERTIARY stage manifests itself
in a variety of forms. There may
be deep ulcerating sores of the skin and
soft tissues, destruction of bony tissue,
dilation of the large blood vessels followed
by their rupture and internal
hemorrhage, weakening of the heart
muscle, large tumors of the various
abdominal organs, and what is most
serious of all, involvement of the brain
or spinal cord residting in many forms
of insanity and paralysis. Some types
of brain and spinal cord invasion are
absolutely hopeless. This third stage
may appear soon after the secondary
stage or may be delayed for as long as
thirty years.
As paradoxical as it may seem, the
cases which show the most external
disturbance, i. e. those pronounced skin
lesions, are in reality the least harmful,
although to the layman they appear
to be the most serious. It has long
been observed that syphilitics having
marked external symptoms escape
syphilis of the brain and spinal cord,
such as paresis (a hopeless form of
insanity), and locomotor ataxia (an
equally grave spinal cord affection).
Sj-philis
Not Always Evident
It is rather commonly supposed that
syphilis is a disease chiefly confined to
those individuals comprising what is
known as the "under-world," and that
infected persons are social and moral
outcasts covered with sores and ulcers
— an altogether revolting picture. While
such cases are sometimes encountered,
the vast majority of syphilitics are
mingling unsuspected with society. In
some respects it is to be regretted that
the disease does not ALWAYS manifest
itself in conformance with the popular
idea for, were this true, its victims
would seek early relief and persist in
treatment for a sufficient length of time
to insure a cure or at least to be put
in a condition which would no longer
menace those with whom they come in
contact. Again, if every case of syphilis
produced the repulsive skin conditions
mentioned above, the public would demand
that immediate and adequate
measures be put into effect to control
and eradicate this great threat against
human life, for although it is not generally
appreciated, syphilis stands high
among the chief killers of mankind as
shown by the following statistics :
The Toll of SyphiUs
Syphilis
Is the cause of 100% of paresis or
softening of the brain.
Is the cause of 100% of locomotor
ataxia.
Is the cause of 25% of all insanity.
Is the cause of 50% of all heart
disease.
Is the cause of 50% of liver and
kidney disease.
Is the cause of 60% of sterility.
Is the chief cause of apoplexy and
paralysis in early life.
Is the cause of nearly half the abortions
and miscarriages.
Is one of the chief causes of mentally
defective children.
WE DAILY READ AND HEAR OF
CANCER AND TUBERCULOSIS,
THERE ARE NATIONAL AND
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
SPENDING MILLIONS OF DOLLARS
ANNUALLY IN THE ATTEMPT TO
CONTROL THESE TWO DISEASES,
YET SYPHILIS KILLS MORE THAN
BOTH COMBINED. There are said to
be ten cases of syphilis to every on.i of
tuberculosis. It occurs in both sexes,
the young and the old, the rich and
the poor, the high and the low—in
every stratum of society. No disease is
so universally distributed. It is no respector
of any persons, anywhere, at
any time. There are said to be ten
million infected individuals in the
United States alone. From statistics of
hospitals, where the Wassermann blood
test for the diagnosis of syphili-s is done
routinely, reports are given out which
vary from a minimum of 5 per cent to
a maximum of 30 per cent of patients
entering these institutions whose blood
shows that they have syphilis. As every
medical man knows, many cases who
have syphilis show NOTHING in the
blood, so that these figures are—to say
the least—no exaggeration.
An individual having syphilis is considered
by life insurance companies as
a bad, if not an impossible, risk. The
germs having lodged in the various
organs of the body set up an inflammation
which so weakens these organs
that in the event of any other sickness,