ABSTRACT
A. Syphilis Syphilis was first recognized as a disease entity when it rapidly spread through Europe in the late fifteenth century, coinciding with the return of Colwnbus from the New World. It became one of the most prevalent and devastating infectious diseases of the world and was termed the Great Pox in the beginning of the sixteenth century. The disease received its present name from the poem by Girolamo Fracastoro in 1530 about the conflicted shepherd, Syphilus. One (environmental) theory postulates that venereal syphilis is merely a variant of another treponemaI disease, yaws, which is known to be epidemic in Central and South America. Due to environmental changes in Europe, the pathogen may have evolved into a new and more virulent species. Many experts have long asswned that syphilis was spread from the New World to the Old (Colwnbian theory), but more argwnents accwnulate against this hypothesis (1).
