Diagnosis (Recognition) of Syphilis.
In every disease an early and correct diagnosis is an essential condition for a successful treatment. This is particularly true in Syphilis. The early recognition of Syphilis can prevent a development of most dangerous complications, can forestall the destruction of most vital nervous centers and organs.
The recognition of Syphilis is beset with peculiar difficulties, due to the fact that Syphilis has a remarkable tendency to imitate in appearance all possible diseases. This simulation is rendered particularly effective because Syphilis has universal and all-pervading distribution in the human body, and not a single part, organ, or tissue is free from the invasion of syphilitic poison. Until lately the diagnosis of Syphilis was based on the rather uncertain basis of clinical experience, but the latest medical discoveries have put it upon a more definite foundation, and rendered it immeasurably more certain.
The first step in this direction was the discovery by a French scientist, Shaudin, of a germ producing Syphilis, a germ that he has called Spirocheta pallida. Spirocheta under the microscope looks very much like a corkscrew, and can be easily demonstrated in all fresh Syphilis sores. A finding of Spirocheta at once and absolutely establishes a diagnosis of Syphilis. Another valuable method by which a doubtful or latent case of Syphilis can be recognized is a blood test, known by the name of its discoverer as Wasserman Test. This is a very complicated test, requiring a highly-developed technic, and it can be properly done only in specially equipped laboratories.
The Wasserman test is not as absolutely sure and positive as finding of Spirocheta, yet it is very useful, and indeed indispensable in many cases of latent Syphilis, i. e., Syphilis that does not show any active symptoms like sores, breaking out, etc.
There is one more way to test the blood for Syphilis—luetin test, discovered by a Japanese scientist, Noguchi. Luetin test is made by injection in the skin of a certain substance, and also is very useful in old and latent cases of Syphilis. Recognition of Syphilis by the appearance and character of the sores and skin eruptions is in many cases very difficult, and can be done in doubtful cases only by a physician specially trained in this class of diseases.