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Camden New Journal - HEALTH by JAMIE WELHAM
Published: 24 January 2008

Syphilis, caused by treponema pallidum

Attitudes to casual sex bring syphilis back with vengeance

Doctor warns UK of unprecedented outbreak

THE sexually transmitted disease syphilis was confined to the history books in the 1980s and 1990s – a medical dinosour like scurvy or smallpox.
But according to one expert from Gospel Oak, our blasé attitudes to casual sex have left Britain on the brink of an uprecedented outbreak.
“We are currently experiencing an epidemic of never-seen-before proportions,” says Dr Patrick French, a consultant in genito-urinary medicine at Mortimer Market Centre in Fitzrovia.
He said: “The number of diagnosed cases in the UK has gone up by more than 2,000 per cent in men and 870 per cent in women in a decade – it’s a level of infection not seen since 1949.”
Dr French said the disease, which has been dubbed the “Great Imitator” because of its uncanny ability to masquerade as other conditions, was all but eradicated in the 1980s because of the publicity push surrounding Aids.
“In many ways the 1980s were a bit of a blip,” said Dr French.
“The turnaround is both truly remarkable and very worrying at the same time.
“The safe-sex campaigns due to the Aids scare really worked and that is something we need to rediscover.
“It’s not a matter of attaching any blame to anyone. The root of the problem is just a dangerously fast change in attitudes and awareness.”
If anyone should take the blame for syphilis then Christopher Columbus could be the man.
He is said to have brought the disease back from the Americas during his great voyage of discovery.
Since then the disease has been prolific in Europe but its long and florid history has not helped its cachet – which is exactly why Dr French thinks we should be worried about it.
“Syphilis is one of those diseases that everyone has heard of but not that many people can say what it does or why it’s so bad. This is a crucial problem.
“Most people don’t realise that syphilis can make you very susceptible to other diseases and can do a lot of lasting damage on your heart and brain.”
Syphilis is caused by the bacterium treponema pallidum.
It can easily be diagnosed with a blood test and most cases can be treated with antibiotics. As well as being spread through sexual contact, it can also be transferred from mother to child.
Dr French says there is no excuse for the epidemic because although as a society we may be more promiscuous than ever before, talking about sex is no longer the taboo it was.
He says children have a remarkable openness and appetite for sex education, which is not being satisfied by schools.
“Syphilis offers us a window on the human condition.
“It doesn’t paint a good picture of our sexual health as a society which is deeply worrying. This is unforgivable because people, and children more importantly, want to learn. In a way we are pushing against an open door but sex education is still too patchy.
“This is something that has to change if we want to go forwards and get our message out there.”

• Dr Patrick French’s Lunch Hour lecture The Return of Syphilis is being given today (Thursday) at 1.15-1.55pm in the Darwin Lecture Theatre at University College London, Gower Street. Admission free.

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