Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1937-03-25

delayed, the sore disappears If
this occurs, do not be lulled into a
feeling of false security, for trifling
beginnings in syphilis often have
the gravest consequences. Other
signs must be looked for, other tests
made-prime among which is a
blood examination, usually Was
sermann test, based on the fact that
a syphilitic infection is accompanied
by changes in the blood serum
which identify (within very narrow
limits of error) the presence Of the
disease Such a test must be taken
repeatedly during the early days or
weeks before the patient is dismiss
ed
SO useful is that Wassermann
test that it has tended to become
the first, and too often the only re-
/ sort of the doctor in identifying
syphilis. Enormously valuable
though it is, this test fails us just
at the critical time for securing the
highest percentage of cures. For
Wassermann test does not come
positive as we say, until the 10th
or 18th day after the first sore, and
chance of cure has already been
diminished. Lucky is the person
who. though proved to have the
/ germ by darkfeld, still has a "neg-
ative'' blood For he, the sero-neg-
ative primary case, has Sc to 80
! chances of cure while later case
has only from 60 to 80 percent
! When the laboratory reports come
in the patient asks inevitably, "Doc-
j tor. can | be cured?" An honest
j answer is, Eyes, up to so or 90 per-
cent certainty. if you have the de-
termination to play the game ae-
| cording to the rules" First rule:
| Put treatment before every other
| obligation; stick; be regular, no eX-
cuses, no letdowns, no crying OH.
! Second: Expect to see the thing
through on faith, for so quickly do
signs and symptoms vanish that you
will soon be inclined to think that
YOU are out of danger. But remem-
Der this: Syphilis is the greatest re-
lapser of all diseases! Treatment
to prevent relapse is carried through
on a schedule based on enormous
medical experience. sifted to the
DOltOm III the last IL yeo1o' 81 w
not constitute yourself as judge
of your own cure. Only your doctor
has the knowledge and the right to
tell you when treatments may stop.
If you are a woman you have
better chance for a mild course or
the disease than a man. Syphilis IS
chivalrous. but left-handedly 50. for
it may strike at you through your
unborn child, which is brought in
to intimate contact with the infec-
ton. But we can control your in
fectiousness, if you will let us treat
you through your pregnancy. Con-
ceive only when we say you may;
treat moderately for the disease as
soon as you know you are pregnant,
or at least before the fifth month
and you have a 80 percent chance,
plus of having a we'll baby. Have
a blood test, whether your doctor or
anyone else thinks you need it or
not, Don't hunt up an abortionist
if. having syphilis, you find you are
pregnant. Pregnancy makes syph-
ills milder is actually treatment for
it, and the child, if you are treated
even little. may be born healthy
70 to 80 chances in hundred
Even if it has the disease it can be
successfully treated.
Now you have the facts from your
doctor. You find, heaving deep
breath, that you are not in Helfs
caldron after all, but still a hope I
full, aspiring being, rallying to the /
determination to get well. What is
ahead of you, and what principles +
shall guide you?
Early syphilis should be treated /
on one of two definite schedules,
known as the American ''continu-
Gus" and the Danish-British "inter-
mittent,'' each of which speclfles |
the dosage of the essential drugs |
and the times to give them, togeth-
er with the necessary tests, all with |
the accuracy of pilots chart. |
These schedules are the result or
worldwide survey by League /
of Nations committee, and the
United States Public Health Service
with group of Amer
ican clinics and authorities. In the
United States, the American con-
tinuous treatment has the weight or
a large body of evidence in its ia
vor, SO let us confine our discussion
to this system, which goes on week
after week for approximately %
weeks and gives top-notch curative
results.
In treating early syphilis today
two drugs, arsphenamine and DIS
muth, are used in alienation. Ihe
are yellowish pow
ders which must be dissolved in
specially purified water, and then
injected very slowly into vein, US
ually in the bend of the arm An
injection hurts little or not at all,
The drug circulates to various or
gans which change it into COM
that destroy the spiral
germs of syphilis outright and with
rapidity. This yello"
LIQUID which goes so painlessly into
your vein is a refinement of Paul
Ehr1ich's "606," an arsenical com
pound introduced in 1910 that
brought new hope, meaning and
method into the treatment OF syph-
Ills. Today the arsphenamines Will
control your infectiousness, bring
about your cure, and nothing else
but arsphenamine and it's deriva-
tives will do it. In an early case
usually 80 to 40 of these treat
ments are required, given in courses
which alternate without lapses or
rests with those of bismuth. The
old days of treating syphilis with
mercury pills and other medicines
by mouth are gone for good.
Bismuth, the second drug used in
the treatment of syphilis, has large
ly displaced the comparatively pol
sonous mercury, with less relapse
- xao.o o,,co apd loco frOuh1o |