Many times in its history, mankind has been on the verge of disaster. Various epidemics have played a significant role in this. Cholera, plague, smallpox claimed thousands of human lives. And the fact that Europe almost perished from syphilis, or, as it was also called, “sticky disease”, was somehow forgotten against the background of these terrible epidemics. Meanwhile, syphilis has been a real problem for people for 500 years.
This disease has not always been called syphilis. Its first names were: French, Neapolitan, Spanish, Castilian disease, black lion, Cupid's disease or Christian disease, as the Turks called it. Later the French dubbed syphilis "God's punishment". The name "syphilis" appeared in 1530 after the publication of a poem by the Italian poet and physician Girolamo Fracastoro. It was about the shepherd Syphilus, who was punished by the gods for having an intimate relationship with a pig. The disease sent to the shepherd by the gods affected the genitals. Since then, syphilis has become syphilis.
Columbus's fault
Until now, no one knows exactly how syphilis got to Europe and, in general, where it originally appeared. Researchers are most often inclined to believe that Columbus brought the disease in 1493 from his trip to the New World. This statement is supported by the notes of the Spanish physician Diaz Isla, who described the illness that struck the sailors of Columbus. His very first patient, if the records are to be believed, was the captain of one of Columbus's ships, Vincente Pinson. In addition, historical chronicles contain information about outbreaks of syphilis in Spanish ports just after the return of the great traveler. Until that moment, diseases with such symptoms were not known in Europe. Based on this version, the birthplace of syphilis was America, or rather, the island of Haiti.
After the sailors returned from a long voyage, they went all out, ignoring the symptoms, hoping that "it will scratch and pass." It is clear that, yearning for women, they first went to brothels. And then, having spent all the money, they were hired on other ships or went into the army. But before that, they managed to infect many.
True, in this theory, not everything is indisputable. The physician William Wallace, who lived at the time, claimed that the symptoms of syphilis had been observed much earlier in the Irish. And this disease was called French pustules. It follows that the disease was brought from Europe to America, and not vice versa.
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So, in 1495 in Europe they started talking about the symptoms of an unknown disease. At first, the patients developed ulcers in intimate places, then problems with bones and skin began. The disease disfigured a person before killing him.
Its first manifestations were noticed in the 30-thousandth French army, which, under the leadership of King Charles VIII, was besieging Naples at that time. It is known that among the soldiers there could have been about 300 Spaniards, quite likely infected with syphilis. The king, taking care of the soldiers, took with him on a military campaign a whole unit consisting of 800 prostitutes. He did not forget about himself, taking with him almost all the ladies-in-waiting.
When Naples fell, Charles held a celebration that lasted almost two months. During this time, syphilis simply blossomed in the army. Every third soldier returned home covered with ulcers. They brought the infection to families, and from there it began to spread across the continent. According to Voltaire, “in their gullible campaign against Italy, the French acquired Genoa, Naples and syphilis. Then they were thrown back and lost Naples and Genoa, but syphilis remained with them."
People did not know anything about a new disease that disfigured their appearance, so they believed that it was heavenly punishment. Conjectures about her origin were one more incredible than the other. It was said that this was payback for the cannibalism of the king's soldiers. Another reason was the sexual intercourse of soldiers with sick mares.
Whatever the reason, over the next 15 years, syphilis swept across Eurasia at a tremendous speed.
Modern scientists still cannot determine the starting point of the disease. It is believed that it has ancient roots. Hippocrates described a kind of disease, accompanied by ulcers inside the mouth and larynx, inflammation of the eye sockets and hard formation on the genitals. By the way, examining the remains of people of the Bronze Age, scientists noted changes in them, characteristic of the "love plague". Of the 294 remains dating back to the X-XIII centuries and found on the territory of the ancient Russian fortress city Belaya Vezha, 26 had syphilitic changes.
Persistent disease
It is hard not to notice that the outbreaks of the disease occurred, as a rule, during wartime. This is due to the fact that during the war there is a huge movement of people. Take, for example, the Italian wars of 1494-1559 or the Napoleonic wars of 1799-1815 and, of course, the period of the First World War, when every seventh inhabitant of Europe was infected.
There were other factors contributing to the spread of the disease. In 1861, when serfdom was abolished in Russia, the former serfs, who had not found use in the city, began to return to the villages, carrying syphilis with them. The spread of the disease were also those who were engaged in out-of-pocket fishing, in other words, they did not work at their place of residence. In the 90s of the XIX century in many provinces, 5% of the population had syphilis.
It is surprising that at the end of the last century the situation did not get better. According to statistics, in 1997 in Russia, out of every 100 thousand of the population, 277 people were sick with syphilis, and in the following years this figure increased to 300.
Today's scientists have made another interesting observation. They noticed that the disease peaks during periods of solar activity and lasts 23 years. But there is no scientific evidence for this.
Know-how in Italian
Until people learned to treat syphilis with antibiotics, the disease progressed. It is known that in the third stage of the disease, bone and cartilage tissue becomes thinner. This primarily concerns the nasal cartilage. As a result, the nose fell through, leaving a disgusting hole in its place. To cover it, there were prostheses made of different materials and with different fasteners. But it was not aesthetic.
Then the Italian doctor Gaspare Tagliakozzi, who lived in the 16th century, figured out how to do what we now call plastic surgery. Of course, such operations were carried out in ancient times. They cut off a flap of skin from the forehead and attached it to the place of the nose, but it looked like a gray patch.
Tagliakozzi cut the skin on the biceps, but not completely, so that the blood vessels continued to function. The skin flap was attached to the remnants of the nose with a special clamp, tightly fitting them, and the patient's hand was fixed by a complex mechanism in a position raised to the nose. In the next 20 days, the patient had to live with his arm raised and not make unnecessary movements. After that, the surgeon completely cut off the flap of skin attached to the nose from the biceps, and after another two weeks gave the new nose a shape. Needless to say, there was a very high risk of blood poisoning during such an operation. In addition, the patient experienced unbearable pain and terrible discomfort. But the new nose was worth it.
Damn chair
At one time, the famous writer Mikhail Bulgakov worked as a doctor in Kiev, also dealing with the treatment of syphilis. His medical knowledge is reflected in some of his works. If you carefully read his "Master and Margarita", you can understand that one of the main characters, Woland, had all the signs of syphilis. For several centuries, the joint bothered him. Here is what he said to Margarita: “The close ones claim that it is rheumatism, but I strongly suspect that this pain in the knee was left to me in memory by one charming witch whom I met closely in 1957 in the Broken Mountains, at the damn pulpit ". To this you can also add the absence of the pupillary reflex and the face beveled to the side with the corner of the mouth pulled downwards.
New fashion
It was syphilis that caused new trends in fashion. Hair fell out of the disease. This is how wigs appeared. The costumes have also changed, which have become more chaste. Gulfs that accentuate the genitals are out of fashion. The neckline was replaced by wide collars and exquisite headdresses, shifting the emphasis from the female breast to the face. Dull and dark colors instead of bright ones began to prevail in ladies' wardrobes.