Volume 18, Number 6—June 2012
Etymologia
Etymologia: Syphilis
On This Page
Downloads
Article Metrics
From Syphilis sive morbus gallicus (“Syphilis or the French disease”) (1530) by Italian physician and poet Girolamo Fracastoro. The poem tells of Syphilus, a shepherd who insulted the sun god of Haiti. In retaliation, the god sends a plague to Haiti, and Syphilus is the first victim.
The first recorded syphilis epidemic was in 1495, during the First Italian War. After the French captured Naples, disbanded soldiers spread syphilis across Europe. For nearly 500 years, scholars have argued whether Columbus brought syphilis to Europe from the New World. Recent research supports Fracastoro’s New World origin for the disease.
References
- Franzen C. Syphilis in composers and musicians—Mozart, Beethoven, Paganini, Shubert, Schumann, Smetana.Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis. 2008;27:1151–7. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Harper KN, Zuckerman MK, Harper ML, Kingston JD, Armelagos GJ. The origin and antiquity of syphilis revisited: an appraisal of Old World pre-Columbian evidence for treponemal infection.Am J Phys Anthropol. 2011;146(Suppl 53):99–133. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Quetel C. The history of syphilis. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press; 1990.
Related Links
Table of Contents – Volume 18, Number 6—June 2012
| EID Search Options |
|---|
Advanced Article Search – Search articles by author and/or keyword.
|
Articles by Country Search – Search articles by the topic country.
|
Article Type Search – Search articles by article type and issue.
|
Page created: October 19, 2012
Page updated: October 19, 2012
Page reviewed: October 19, 2012
The conclusions, findings, and opinions expressed by authors contributing to this journal do not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Public Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the authors' affiliated institutions. Use of trade names is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by any of the groups named above.