摘要
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease(STD)caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum.Historically,syphilis was called as the“great pox”in order to distinguish it from smallpox and given many national attributions,such as the French pox,the English pox,and the Italian pox,due to that the disease was often believed to be spread by sailors and soldiers in the country during their unprotected sexual contact with local prostitutes.1 The French pox was widely used before it was named syphilis by the Italian physician and poet Girolamo Fracastoro in 1530.2 Syphilis first reached Canton(Guangzhou)of China through the sea in 1505 and was called“Canton sores”or“Canton rash”(kuang chuang).However,“plum-blossom sores”(yangmei chuang)was more widely used in medical records in China because they had a shape resembling plum-blossoms.Syphilis is transmitted through unprotected sexual contact with an infected person.It can also be passed from an infected mother to her unborn child.If left untreated,syphilis often progresses to later stages and can cause heart problems,psychological disorders,blindness,and death.In era of human immunodeficiency virus(HIV)epidemic,syphilis infection has become a facilitating factor to increase the risk of contracting HIV by up to four-fold and transmitting HIV by up to nine-fold.3 China has a long history of syphilis epidemic but the great successes in control of the disease have been made during the past 70 years in China.
作者简介
Corresponding authors:Prof.Chen Xiang-Sheng,National Center for STD Control,Hospital for Skin Diseases(Institute of Dermatology),Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College,Nanjing,Jiangsu 210042,China.E-mail:chenxs@ncstdlc.org.
