Basic HTML Version
20
they had the "silent epidemic."
These and other facts about vencreal
discase h.tve too often been jammed by
misinformation and the playing down
of the dire consequences of the play–
now-fix-the·results-later philosophy. It is
time the seriousness of VD was made
clear.
Jt
is also time we understood the
CAUSE
of VD.
lt
goes beyond microbes
to the
promisC!tO!IJ sex
att
it11des
held by
too many people.
This article will give you these much–
ignored warnings from experts, from
history, and from those who have suf–
fercd. Read this information carcfully.
Sharc it with your teen-age chi ldren.
The D isease No One W ants
to Talk About
Today, as throughout much of his–
tory, the silent epidemic of VD is rag–
ing. Jts delayed-action fuse is carried by
millions. VD is still a great crippler
and killer - despite medica! treatment.
And, yet, strangely enough, little is
publicly said about the enormity of its
consequences. Bubonic Plague may be
frightful to contemplate - it killed
25,000,000 persons in the sixteenth
century. In more recent times, the hor–
rible ravages of influenza, Gcrman
measles or polio have evoked strong
críes of alarm.
Yet, there has been a far greater rav–
ager in history -
venereai disease.
What makes VD even more insidious is
its infection patterns.
A
person may
have
VD
and
not knoxu
it.
VD Affects Millions
Just since 1900, in the lifetime of
many living today, various forms of
syphilis
alone have killed approximately
100 million people. During that same
period in the United States, it is esti–
matcd that syphilis has killed more than
three million babies aod more than a
miilion adults.
*
Additiona! mill ions
have been injured or crippled by thc
disease or by its sister,
gonor,.hea.
In 1967, a commission for the U.N.
•Facts taken from
VD: Fat:IJ Y ou Should
Know,
page
58,
by André Blanzaco, M.O.,
in consultation with William F. Schwartz,
Venereal Oisease Branch, Communicable
Oisease Center, Atlanta, and Julius B. Rich·
mond, M.O. Material in this book was given
critica! eva luation before publication by sev–
era! other noted health oflicials.
The
PLAIN TRUTH
Economic and Social Counci l reported
that there were 30 to 50 million cases of
venereal syphilis in the world and more
than 150 million cases of gonorrhea
infections.
Today, despitc modern medica! treat–
ment , venercal disease is out of control,
according to health officials everywhere.
In every major nation it infects millions
and endangers millions more.
Venereal disease has leapfrogged all
other communicable diseases reported in
the United States to rank number one in
the nation. It is surpassed only by colds
and flus, which are not generally
reported. ( And the VD crisis is approx–
imately the same in most other modero
nations. Reported cases reveal only the
"1Wish 1Were Dead! "
"l
am a girl,
18.
1
had expected to
get married this month. My boy friend
broke our engagement because
1
can't
have children.
A
few ycars ago
1
can
with a hippie crowd. We
aH
were pro–
miscuous.
1
conuacted gonorrhea but
didn' t know it. Last month
1
had a
physical exam and the doctor found it.
He said a part of me has become
thickened and scarred.
lt
will keep me
from mothcrhood.
1
wish
1
were
dead."
"1 am a 14·year-old girl. I have gone
with boys since 1 was 12 and have
fooled around a lot but 1 am still a
virgin (technically) and of that
1
am
very sure. 1 recently weot to a clinic
and the doctor thece told me 1 had
syphilis. I aro being trcated for it now.
If
you think this will help other girls
who think they can't get syphWs uo–
less they go all thc way, 1 am telling
you they can! 1 did. Maybe 1 should
explain that I did sorne heavy petting,
and that is how 1 got it."
tip of the iceberg.) Gonorrhea alone,
with its two million new infections
annually, is the nation's most frequently
occurring communicable disease among
those reported.
In spite of the growing incidence of
the disease, ignorance concerning VD
abounds - just as in the Middle Ages
when it swept away nüllions and altered
history. Too many today seem to have
no more regard for or fear of VD than
a bad cold, and think it can be cured
just as easily. This common attitude
alarms many health officials. They know
VO's changing face makes this idea a
gross over-simpl ification .
January
1972
A Penalty for Promiscuity
From the most ancient anoals of civ–
ilization to the case histories of the
modern medica! clinic, venereal disease
has been a repugnant and often embar–
rassing reminder that promiscuity can
exact a grievous penalty. The penalty is
often paid, unfortunately, not only by
the promiscuous individuals, but also by
their offspring.
Congenital syphiüs may produce a
stillborn baby or a üve one that looks
Jike the grotesque distortion of a hor–
rible nightmare. Or the baby may
appear normal at birth, but weeks,
months or
years
later his face may sud–
den ly become wrinkled or sunken. His
shinbones may become deformed, and
blindness, deafness, insanity or other
signs of syphilis infection may occur.
This is a penalty innocently suffered.
Yet, one half to two thirds
of the
babies born alive to mothers with
syphilis will bear congenital syphilis
in sorne forro.
For untold thousands of careless
young girls living today, gonorrhea has
cost thcm their opportunity to bcar chil–
dren. Their fond hopes of a fulfilling
marriage with children have beco
ruined because their Fallopian tubes
were scarred by gonococci, evcntually
producing irreversible sterility. Today,
gonorrhea is a
major
cause of stcrility in
both men and women.
Too many men have "sown wild
oats" in adolescence, settled clown with
a wife, had severa! children and
then
were struck down
twenty yea,.s
Jatcr, in
the prime of life, by a syphilitic heart
attack (their aorta turned into a rubbcry
pulp),
oc
by syphilitic insanity or
blindness.
For these v•ct•ms, VD was a time
bomb that exploded disastrously. For
millions more today, that time bomb is
sti ll ticking.
This VD time bomb may be defuscd
without sevcre effects, even without
treatmcnt, but not without the danger
of transmission to others. For many,
however, the "bomb" will go on ticking
away, unnoticed until it explodes over a
period of days, mooths, or years, leav–
ing in its wake irreparable damage,
emotion~l
trauma, and possibly death.
Meanwhile, the infected individual may