VENEREAL DISEASES-THE NEXT TO GO
Parran, Dr. Thomas
Venereal Diseases—The Next To Go By DR. THOMAS PARRAN THIS NATION has reached the decisive stage of her war against venereal disease. We have the weapons, the trained medical and public health...
...The important partial victory we already have won was made possible when back in 1938, the Congress passed the La Follette-Bulwinkle Act authorizing the present national venereal disease control program...
...These findings are in general agreement with numerous other reports from Army and Navy and civilian venereal disease control authorities throughout the country...
...Today there are nearly 4,000 clinics and about 60 special hospitals...
...Congress Clears The Way With this active cooperation, we can win...
...When these 660 communities began enforcing anti-prostitution laws, and health departments had intensified their efforts to locate infectious cases in the general population, there arose the problem of where to isolate and treat those cases which were considered a menace to the public health...
...Syphilis and gonorrhea must be the next to go...
...Since Ehrlich first discovered the arsenical drug, "606," in 1910, medical science has been seeking a more rapid treatment for syphilis...
...These same centers will also be a key weapon in the control of gonorrhea...
...We have the weapons, the trained medical and public health manpower...
...All the conditions for large increases in both syphilis and gonorrhea are with us now and will continue during the war, and for several years after...
...It was natural then that Sen...
...His sponsorship of the special legislation in the Senate, which brought into being the national venereal disease control program, is only one of his many acts for the advancement of the people's health...
...It attacks at least three times more frequently than syphilis, and if untreated it can often do serious damage...
...Federal funds for this purpose were available under the Lanham Act for the wartime development of community facilities...
...In 1938, clinics and doctors reported 3,598,000 blood tests for syphilis...
...However, gonorrhea may be increasing slightly...
...If these patients—almost a fourth of all early cases—could be discovered, brought to the centers and rendered non-infectious, virtually complete control of syphilis in the United States might be in sight within a few years' time...
...When these experiments began to show definite signs of success, it was decided to use them on a large scale in the national wartime control program...
...There were 1,122 venereal disease clinics in 1938...
...Men and children, as well as women, are admitted...
...Within two years, local police officials in a majority of critical areas had been persuaded to adopt a policy of repression for prostitution in all its forms...
...This hospital program with its emphasis on speed, epitomizes our hopes for an early and complete victory over syphilis...
...War workers, draft rejectees, and infectious contacts reported by the Army and Navy are among the thousands treated and returned to useful work...
...In them the new, intensive treatment methods are being applied for the first time on a large enough scale to exert some real effect on the national prevalence and spread of syphilis...
...gonorrhea drugs distributed increased by nearly 600 per cent...
...he has fought for adequate appropriations and time and again he has taken the initiative in advancing national health legislation...
...Present plans call for about 10 more...
...Only through the informed support of the people will the health authorities and the private physicians be able to carry out this plan...
...They will pay hi blindness, paralysis, insanity, pain, and premature death...
...About 10 years ago doctors began experimenting with methods for giving ar-senicals on a faster schedule, which would kill the germ but would not injure the patient...
...The tavern, cafe, and night club were found to be the leading places of encounter...
...We have launched a coordinated attack on all fronts...
...These are, prevention, treatment, and public education...
...But partial victory over disease is not enough when total victory is possible...
...Wisconsin's own progressive'program for the control of syphilis had already brought about a substantial reduction in the prevalence of the disease among her citizens—proving again the public health principle that where syphilis is attacked vigorously, it recedes...
...When the contemplated 70 hospitals are completed they will be able to handle 100,000 cases a year...
...We can make syphilis and gonorrhea as rare as smallpox, yellow fever, and plague, diseases which once exacted a frightful toll in human lives and happiness but which medical and public health science have made comparatively rare in this country in recent years...
...Free drugs for syphilis treatment distributed through public clinics and to private physicians increased about 400 per cent...
...State and local expenditures fell off in proportion...
...Undoubtedly the splendid progress made by our armed services in reducing or holding to a minimum infections among men in uniform is partly due to this vigorous policy directed against the commercial prostitute...
...This is in marked contrast with the situation during the 20 years following the last war...
...The active cooperation of millions of individual citizens is required...
...Because of the national emergency, Federal funds have exceeded state and local contributions for the last three years...
...Robert M. La Follette, Jr., of Wisconsin should become a national leader in the fight against venereal disease...
...The casual pick-up to whom no fee was paid was the leading source of infection...
...While pronorrhea is usually less serums than syphilis, it is a serious public health problem because it is a more common one...
...For convenience, these hospitals are called Rapid Treatment Centers...
...This is a considerable sum—but it is a sum which means much to the health and the fighting and working power of the American people...
...The difficulty of holding infectious syphilis patients under the standard 70 weeks of treatment long enough to insure against infectious relapse was obvious...
...State and local contributions will probably total in the neighborhood of $10,000,000...
...The national venereal disease control plan is in three major phases...
...Analysis of 10,057 reports made in 1942 and 1943 of the contacts of infected soldiers in one Army Service Command revealed that paid prostitutes constituted only 19 per cent of the contacts...
...more than £00,000 were found to have, evidence of syphilis...
...La Follette's support of the venereal disease campaign and, indeed, of all sound public health measures, has been aggressive and consistent...
...Let's look at just one example: Out of the first U5.000.000 men examined for Selective Service since J 9-10...
...It was estimated in 1941 that over 3,000,000 people in this country had syphilis...
...The Price We Pay We are now paying a steep price for those years of neglect...
...If that support is given, it is in our power to make syphilis and gonorrhea the next serious diseases to go...
...There is one factor which might possibly stall this offensive...
...If our attack is pressed without stint for a few more years, I am confident we can eliminate syphilis and gonorrhea from the list of serious threats to the health of the American people...
...Infected girls and womeji representing a wide range of social background are among the patients at these rapid treatment hospitals...
...Abandoned CCC camps, remodeled hotels, old hospital buildings, and wards in general hospitals were converted into hospitals where especially trained doctors and nurses could give the treatments...
...Until the outbreak of the present war Federal and state contributions were about equal...
...The Federal appropriation for the current fiscal year is $12,-339,000...
...All this was paid for by Federal and state funds...
...Remember, both of these widespread, serious, costly diseases are preventable and they are curable...
...The value of this policy is indicated by recent proof that the prostitute now plays a relatively minor part in our current problems...
...In less than two years nearly 60 special institutions have been opened...
...The latest reports indicate that syphilis is actually on the decrease...
...In one of its major articles this agreement called for nation-wide repression of prostitution in areas where armed forces or industrial workers were concentrated...
...In the field of public health this is our own version of "Unconditional Surrender...
...So far, we have apparently avoided the epidemic increase in venereal disease which usually has been one of the tragic by-products of war...
...For the first time, the nation's war against venereal disease was placed on permanent basis—until the time when our conquest shall be complete...
...Development' of resources for their prevention and cure begun in 1938 has been substantial...
...From an appropriation of $2,000,000 in 1918, Federal funds went down and down each year, until in 1935 the appropriation was only $62,000...
...A division of social protection was established in the Office of Community War Services of the Federal Security Agency—the agency of our Government which also includes the Public Health Service...
...That attack has already brought us a very important victory...
...A sustained drive is necessary, one which not only employs all our present resources but which puts into full use new scientific weapons and new stratagems...
...However, popular understanding and support will not be enough if it is merely passive...
...Because the full damage of untreated syphilis does not cccur for 10, i 5, or even 20 years, literally hundreds of thousands of American men and women will be paying for years to come for that period of national neglect...
...The centers will soon be equipped to care for practically all the early and infectious syphilis cases not being treated by private physicians, in the armed forces, or in existing clinics...
...At least 660 war communities in which prostitution had been formerly condoned or was even -permitted to operate on a quasi-official basis, have exercised the repressive measures recommended in the "Eight-Point Agreement...
...Forewarned by the mounting omens of war, the nation in 1939 embarked on an organized prevention program through what is known as the "Eight-Point Agreement'," signed by the War and Navy Departments, the Federal Security Agency, and the 48 state health departments...
...Public Support Needed To cope with this problem the Federal Government and a number of state health departments joined in a program to provide facilities in which infectious cases of venereal disease could be isolated and given intensive treatment...
...Sen...
...In the fiscal year 1943, a total of 30,900,000 tests were given...
...The centers are hospitals, not jails or detention camps for prostitutes...
...That is failure of the general publie to understand the prevalence, the individual and social dangers of venereal disease, and the necessity of supporting in full the efforts of doctors and Federal, state, and local governments...
...Therefore, merely to retain the partial gains we have made it will be necessary for us to continue to press the fight...
...Social Protection Since most eases of venereal disease are acquired through sex contact, the preventive program seeks to reduce promiscuous sex conduct which always increases the danger not only of contracting an infection but also of passing it on...
Vol. 8 • August 1944 • No. 33
