Syphilitic skull
Tertiary syphilis, untreated for ~27 years. 1910.From National Museum of Health and Medicine.So, back then, people didn’t really have a lot of options. You got syphilis, you were done, if it came to this. Sucks, but hey, that’s how it goes. If you were lucky you’d just get weird permanent sores on your skin.But these days people think, “Oh, syphilis, what a quaint old disease!” And since the bacteria shows up as just a rash in its first stage, and has very few (if any) symptoms in its second, PEOPLE DON’T KNOW THEY HAVE IT. The secondary stage can last for 1-20 years after the initial rash goes away, and becomes almost untreatable once the disease reaches its tertiary phase. Tertiary syphilis can manifest in nearly any part of the body, including the brain (neurosyphilis), bones, and internal organs. GET TESTED. Seriously! The cure before the tertiary stage is literally just a short course of antibiotics or an antibiotic injection!There are more than 100,000 cases per year in the USA, and that number is only going up as of 2016.Fun fact: The largest increase in syphilis cases (as well as almost all other STIs) in North America is in people who are 65+, living in assisted living or nursing facilities. Because there’s almost no risk of pregnancy at that age, people tend not to use contraception, including condoms, and being in constant close contact with each other means that sexual liaisons are not uncommon.
