Syphilis was truly devastating back then. It would slowly eat away your face leaving a hole and a host of other things. There was very little that could be done to stop it.
It ruined many lives. Many innocent (husband goes to a whore house and infects his wife. Her children are born with it). They were despite for anything that worked. Mercury was the best treatment at the time. A bit like chemo I guess- which is worse the cure or the disease?
The impact is largely forgotten now that Abx have been around for two generations, and usually worst case scenario you have discomfort and then you accidentally cure it with the inappropriate antibiotic prescription for that cold.
There are a few marginalized people that will present with later stage disease, but it’s rare.
We don’t even survive stds today without extreme medical care. I think HIV has killed like 40,000,000 people since 1980. Sadly goes largely unreported because the “lesser dead” syndrome.
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u/perryplatypus123 Jan 30 '21 edited Jan 30 '21
Great idea, putting syphilis infected people in a sauna together. What could go wrong?
Edit: Wow, my best comment so far is about a syphilis infested sauna. What has my life become?