'He who knows syphilis knows medicine' - the return of an old friend

摘要

He who knows syphilis knows medicine" said Father of Modern Medicine, Sir William Osier, at the turn of the 20th Century. So common was syphilis in days gone by, all physicians were attunec to its myriad clinical presentations. Indeed, the 19tl century saw the development of an entire medical subspecialty - syphilology - devoted to the study of the great imitator, Treponema pallidum. But syphilis to many is a disease of old, consigned to the annals of history by infusions of mercury, arsenical magic bullets, and finally dealt a fatal blow by the advent of penicillin. The case report of a contemporary presentation of syphilitic aortitis by Aman et al. (set pages 94-6) presented in this issue is fascinating, but it seems most remarkable as a strange relic, a throwback to an era of medicine past. Or perhaps it is not.