La syphilis

Overview & Synopsis

With almost 1749 cases diagnosed in France in 2016, syphilis has not disappeared yet. Still, the current sanitary conditions are not comparable at all with those of the mid-19th century, and not even to those of 1922 when, as reported by Virginie De Luca, “the commission on prevention of venereal diseases estimated they cost 140.000 lives” (stillbirths, abortions due to pathologies, infant or adult deaths) and caused a ratio of 1 sick adult out of 10. And yet, the “scourge of Naples” is still challenging society and medicine. The very nature of syphilis both frightens and fascinates. A shameful disease contracted in the intimacy of the bedroom, it has been questioning our societies for many centuries now, notably their morals, their capacity to medically and therapeutically innovate, as well as their arrangements for the enforcement of a public health policy or their will to assume an efficient healthcare policy. Although those questions are not recent, they remain deeply rooted in our relationship to the disease and to the bodies, which can be severely bruised in the third stage of its evolution. Coming from ancient times, syphilis (along with other venereal diseases), maybe more than any other contagious disease, embodies the tensions of a world that started globalising from the 16th century on, with a pace quickening in the 19th century. The main topic of this volume is to propose a convergence between thoughts emanating from historians, anthropologists and doctors with a focus on the “shock” caused by the encounter of the pale Treponema with societies.