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Syphilis - the often unrecognized suffering
French disease?
The epidemic was called the French disease because at the siege of Naples at the end of the 16th century hundreds of French soldiers died of the disease.
Friedrich Nietzsche died mentally deranged. Did syphilis lead to his delusion? Doctors were already arguing during his lifetime. (Orion_eff / fotolia.com) A sinful shepherd
In 1530, an Italian doctor wrote a poem about the lecherous shepherd Syphilus, who was punished as a punishment for his sexual obsessions with illness.
Kings and writers
Ivan the Terrible suffered just as much as Catherine the Great, the knight Ulrich von Hutten and Louis XIV, the Sun King. The syphilis met painters such as Edouard Manet, writers such as Guy de Maupassant and E.T. A. Hoffmann, politicians such as Gabriel de Piqueti Mirabeau and Armand Jean du Plessis Richelieu.
Beethoven and Nietzsche
Ludwig von Beethoven (1770-1827) lost his hearing due to the illness and spent the last 20 years of his life in deafness.
Friedrich Nietzsche died on 25.8.1900 mentally neglected in Weimar. Nietzsche's first pathobiographer Moebius considered the psychic disorders of the philosopher to be a typical consequence of syphilis. Whether Nietzsche suffered from syphilis is still controversial.
Syphilis or gonorrhea?
However, syphilis was not distinguished from gonorrhea for centuries, and both were referred to as syphilis, and Nietzsche had told friends about gonorrhea during his studies.
Since the nerve disorders occur only at a late stage of syphilis, it could well be that he was infected decades before. However, cancer and congestion of the thinker's central nervous system are also discussed.
Gauguin and Van Gogh
The painters Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin (died 1890 and 1903) both succumbed to the disease, as did Heinrich Heine and Goethe.
Oscar Wilde and Charles Baudelaire
The Lebemans Oscar Wilde and Charles Baudelaire both contracted the venereal disease, and their conservative enemies blamed the "immoral" life of the two Bonvivants.
Hitler and Mussolini
The most prominent sufferers of syphilis were Adolf Hilter and Benito Mussolini. Even the dictator of Uganda, who wanted to honor Hitler with a memorial on Lake Victoria, became infected.
A mysterious blindness Hitler in Pasewalk was, according to the ophthalmologist. Neubauer the secondary stage of syphilis, more specifically the iridocyclitis syphilitica. Hitler needed because of this visual weakness a typewriter with extra large letters.
Disappeared from consciousness
Today, syphilis has disappeared from everyday consciousness - but not from the hospitals. In contrast to AIDS, many people are familiar with the "French disease", but rather as a historical phenomenon such as the plague.
Thousands of infected
However, this is a fallacy: in 2015, according to the Robert Koch Institute, 6834 people in Germany became infected with the disease - and syphilis can still endanger life today. In the early stages, however, it can be very effectively combat.
A bacterium
In 1905, the Berlin physician Erich Hoffmann and the zoologist Fritz Schaudinn discovered the pathogen: Treponema pallidum, a bacterium, triggers the disease. It usually enters the organism through oral or vaginal communication and penetrates through minor injuries.
According to Norbert Bockmeyer from the Center for Sexual Health and Medicine in Bochum, people who have unprotected intercourse with infected people can be infected to 60%.
Syphilis is again on the rise. Image: Tatiana Shepeleva - fotolia The ulcer
The first symptoms only appear several weeks after the infection.
First, an ulcer forms, usually where the bacterium invaded, ie on the genitals or the mouth. Although this ulcer heals, but that means no all-clear.
skin rash
The pathogens are now distributed throughout the body. This begins Stage 2. Those affected suffer from rash and fever. These symptoms, too, go by themselves.
"Softening of the brain"
The third stage often occurs years after infection. Patients sometimes suffer from psychosis and dementia. The bacteria often cause tissue to break down in the brain and spinal cord. In the 19th century, this neurosyphilis was known as "syphilitic dementia".
Penicillin helps
In 1928, Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, which made syphilis curable. In the first stage, a penicillin injection is usually sufficient to stem the disease and kill the bacterium.
Syphillis prevention equals AIDS prevention
In order not to become infected at all, the same rules apply as with safe sex to prevent AIDS. Use condoms during sexual intercourse. These do not offer 100% protection, but the risk of becoming infected drops rapidly.
A male disease
Especially homosexual men who have intercourse with other men are affected. Currently this is about 85% of the infected.
Syphillis is not a disease of homosexuals, but it is a disease of men. Only 6.2% of the infected are women.
New carelessness
Brockmeyer sees a "new carelessness" as a decisive factor for the recurrence of syphilis. Sexual partners would chat before the first erotic meeting and be lulled by this virtual get-together in false security.
Better AIDS drugs
Another cause of the spread of sexually transmitted disease could be the advanced treatment of HIV patients. Today's drugs contain the number of viruses so that even HIV-positive people can have unprotected sexual intercourse without infecting their partners.
The widespread practice of practicing safe sex at the end of the 1980s does not seem to be essential in AIDS, and this lack of protection makes it easier for the syphilis pathogen to penetrate.
Hardly anyone thinks of syphilis
Syphilis disappeared so far from the perception that infected in the two early stages often do not think of the disease - and that probably affects many doctors.
After all, a small ulcer that goes by itself can have many causes, and complaints that disappear are usually not considered serious.
That's not it: possible deafness, blindness or destroyed brain functions such as nerve damage may follow. Although syphilis usually does not lead to death today, it can have serious after-effects. (Dr. Utz Anhalt)