There are two major diseases related to sex that all young people should know about. They are syphilis and gonorrhea. Although these diseases are sometimes contracted in another they most frequently are picked up though sexual intercourse with someone who already has the disease. Prostitutes are the usual source of infection in any community.

Young men who want to be healthy and strong will naturally avoid all contact with such loose-living women, whether they are professional prostitutes or not. Certainly no sensible young man would want to have sex relations with any woman in the so-called “red light district.” If he does, he has no one to blame but himself. Many of these women are infected with syphilis and gonorrhea, often having both diseases at the same time.

There was a time when it seemed that syphilis would soon be a thing of the past. Modern miracle drugs would end this foul body-and-soul destroying disease. But because of careless living on the part of many young people the disease is spreading rapidly today in spite of all the advances of modern medical science. Public health authorities are doing their best to stamp out syphilis, yet the disease is still with us. And it seems likely to continue for some time. This means that a young person must be continually on guard against infection.

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease caused by the spirochetal bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum. The route of transmission of syphilis is almost always through sexual contact, although there are examples of congenital syphilis via transmission from mother to child in utero.

The signs and symptoms of syphilis are numerous; before the advent of serological testing, precise diagnosis was very difficult. In fact, the disease was dubbed the “Great Imitator” because it was often confused with other diseases, particularly in its tertiary stage.