Syphilis - The Great Imitator - Extra History - #1

for novo italy 1st italian war june 6 1495. crows pick through the corpses on the battlefield earlier in the year armies of the french king charles viii had entered and occupied the kingdom of naples hoping to bring it under french control and the people of naples welcomed the french at first but for three months charles's army has packed brothels and terrorized the unhappy population venice rallied a league of italian city-states to oppose him the battle had been fierce twice as many italians died as the french but charles withdrew and it's in the french dead that italian doctors first noticed the disease their bodies have pustules erupting from their head to their knees more horrible one writer said than leprosy or elephantitis flesh rotted off their faces and it was already showing up in the population of naples it was the first recorded mention of a disease that would ravage the world for five centuries syphilis [Music] this episode is sponsored by the child and teen checkups program of minnesota as a young adult it's important to monitor your health even when you don't feel sick and you may qualify for free annual checkups learn more at u21checkups.com now just a quick warning before we start this episode is going to be pretty frank about sex and the effects of syphilis so if you are on the younger side maybe watch with a parent who can talk to you about it when italian doctors first noticed syphilis they knew two things right away that it was a new disease and that it was transmitted by sexual contact no one had seen anything like it before and because humans had no immunities it advanced with frightening speed killing within months the first symptom of infection a painless genital ulcer known as a shanker made it clear how the disease was transmitted its second stage could lead to a rash on the body palms and feet lack of energy fever weight loss headache hair loss and at times even organ damage then after that the symptoms might go away only to emerge as third stage syphilis years or decades later the third stage could appear as disfiguring growths on the skin organs and skeleton or it could attack the heart leading to a catastrophic rupture and in advanced cases it could attack bone and cartilage eating away at joints a person's nose or even the skull but the most dreadful form was neurosyphilis affecting the brain spinal cord and nervous system that brought on loss of coordination and an inability to feel temperature or pain neurological conditions such as psychosis dementia delirium mania and depression might follow and horribly it could even be passed to a child during pregnancy or birth even back in 1495 doctors suspected a culprit among the french army there were mercenaries that had voyaged with columbus to the new world so clearly this was some kind of new disease brought back from the tropics and in an unusual twist for renaissance medicine they might have actually been right broken clock twice a day sort of thing the origin of syphilis is still hotly debated but recent studies of burials before the colombian exchange seemed to support the idea that it was present in america before columbus's voyage but not present in europe alternately syphilis may have emerged independently in both places or been a different kind of disease in the americas that mutated to become sexually transmitted once it reached europe but wherever it emerged first the ongoing italian wars would provide almost the perfect environment for nurturing and spreading a sexually transmitted infection or sti because while charles had failed over the next 60 years multiple french kings would invade the italian states and they would be opposed by international coalitions containing mercenaries from across europe those soldiers would fight in italy catch syphilis and then bring the disease back to their home countries syphilis would become the scourge of europe both feared and reviled because it was a new breed of sti more serious and deadly than those europe had known before but people in the renaissance weren't just afraid of what syphilis did they also feared the stigma it carried eruptions on the face poetically referred to as purple flowers were impossible to hide and often left permanent scarring along with the humiliation of being marked as having engaged in sex outside marriage and this could cause enormous problems for certain segments of society those who were supposed to be celibate priests nuns cardinals even one pope had their private lives exposed not to mention affairs were revealed and women particularly those in the sex trade were attacked and abused if seen as the source of an outbreak though the name syphilis actually came from a male character a shepherd from a narrative poem who defied the sun god and was cursed many terms surrounding the disease were misogynistic for example its most popular nickname was venereal disease as in one that came from venus and stories from the time frequently cast men as the victims entrapped by an evil unclean woman other names for syphilis reflected the political friction points of europe italians called it the french disease while the french called it the italian disease russians and poles blamed it on each other and in the ottoman empire it was the christian disease ain't no goat like a scapegoat in english fanciful names abound such as cupid's disease or the black lion the scottish gave it the exquisitely revolting name of grand gore but within a century it was known medically as great pox to distinguish it from smallpox and a later physician would dub it the great imitator for its ability to vary widely in its symptoms and appear as other diseases but you might notice that all of these terms have one thing in common they were indirect softening the nastiness even in language people could not mentally deal with syphilis frankly they wanted to refer to it sideways and cover it up often literally for example when the infamous treasury borgia visited naples in 1497 he caught the disease from a courtesan a reoccurrence of symptoms years later would mar his handsome features leaving him with telltale scars his solution was to don a carnival mask in public an affectation that only increased his sinister reputation as one of italy's most ruthless power players but not everyone took such dramatic steps particularly in the later 17th and 18th centuries when immune systems adjusted and the disease while still awful became more survivable syphilis scarring also drove a fashion boom encouraging the middle and upper classes to adopt thick makeup to cover the blemishes wigs hid hair loss experienced in the second phase and in france women in the sex trade would wear beauty marks or false moles to cover or distract from particularly bad pock marks a fashion that was later adopted even by those who didn't have the disease and in extreme cases when people lost noses they would have prosthetics fashioned from silver or ceramics in fact people seeking treatment for syphilis inspired the concept of doctor-patient confidentiality as doctors began advertising themselves not just as skilled but also discreet however there was no hiding the ravages of neurosyphilis except by locking loved ones away or sending them to an asylum actually by some estimates half of the people in 19th century asylums had third stage syphilis but as medical science progressed there were new treatments for those who lost their nose a doctor could sew their arm to their face for a few weeks to maintain blood flow within transplanted skin until the tissue took hold and then thankfully a new wonder drug appeared on the scene are you suffering from shanker sores and fever listlessness or mania maybe facial pustules have ruined your love life or you've had to leave a party early embarrassed because your nose fell off if so you might be one of millions living with syphilis but you don't have to put up with that black lion anymore ask your doctor about mercury in anecdotal evidence mercury was found to attack syphilis at the source letting you salivate it right out of your system and best of all you can take mercury in the way that's right for you rub it on your ulcers and rashes as a solve soak your bandages in it or swallow it as drops or pills fill up a big syringe and inject it directly into your urethra or make a spa day of it by vaporizing it over a fire so it fills a sauna chamber and really gets into your pores accidentally infected your spouse buy it as a discreet chocolate drink so you can treat your beloved without admitting to an affair get your life back ask your doctor if mercury may be right for you side effects may include itching or burning sensations insomnia healing skin excessive salvation skin discoloration swelling hypertension increased heartbeat kidney dysfunction loss of memory and nerve damage some patients report a feeling of insects crawling under their skin or sudden death by poisoning you've had your night with venus welcome to your lifetime with mercury ick is right zoe for the record don't take mercury it is literally poison in fact don't even touch the stuff but despite the fact that it was deadly and did nothing about syphilis mercury would remain the most popular treatment until 1908 when a new and actually effective drug came along salversan but the horror didn't stop there so join us next week where the history of syphilis somehow gets worse once again thanks so much to child and teen checkups program for sponsoring this episode remember we're all at our best when we stay in charge of our own health and even as a young adult it's important to get annual checkups because they're a great and proactive way of identifying symptoms addressing concerns and setting a baseline for a happy healthy future plus you may qualify for free annual checkups you can learn more and get started today at u21checkups.com that's the letter u 2 1 checkups.com legendary thanks to ahmed ziad turk alicia bramble casey muscha dominic valenciana gunner clovis kyle murgatroyd and obriel's one for helping to make this show possible [Music] you

Channel: Extra Credits

Views: 300,662

Rating: 4.9525051 out of 5

Keywords: Extra Credits, extra history, extra credits history, medical history, syphilis, sexual health, history of science, history of medicine, STIs, syphilis disease history

Id: gnwKRHBiWb4

Length: 10min 4sec (604 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 27 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/Mythosaurus]

What are the odds that some priests turned to pedophilia to avoid being exposed as uncelibate by syphilis's symptoms?