List of people speculated to have been syphilitic

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Notable people identified as possibly syphilitic:

Though diagnoses arrived at in retrospect from purely historical data are always open to question, it has been suggested that the deceased persons on the list below may have had syphilis.

[edit] Background

The determination of whether a person long dead did or did not suffer from syphilis can be fraught with controversy. Even in living patients, diagnosis is not straightforward, since the disease mimics many other illnesses. Among historical figures, the situation is far worse, since modern laboratory testing cannot be carried out.

Author Deborah Hayden recently drew much attention for her book POX: Genius, Madness, and the Mysteries of Syphilis, which offered bold hypotheses about the possibility of syphilis among a wide array of historical figures, some of whom appear on the list below. In addition to speculating about whether these individuals suffered from syphilis, Hayden went further, claiming that in the case of people famed for creative contributions (such as authors and painters), their syphilis somehow was responsible for their heightened artistic abilities.

Not all reaction to Hayden's work has been positive. Notably, Philip A. Mackowiak, a physician with extensive experience in the investigation of diseases of historical figures, published a review of Hayden's book in The New England Journal of Medicine, asserting that Hayden was not competent to make the judgments that she tried to make. Mackowiak's primary point is that for any kind of plausible diagnosis of the diseases of historical figures, one must have expertise concerning all of the diseases compatible with their symptoms, and not just one. Whatever expertise Hayden may have had (her prior background is in direct marketing, not medicine), it apparently did not extend beyond knowledge about syphilis.

Thus, many of the names given on the list below must be considered quite speculative. The assessment of the weight of the evidence for purposes of this Wikipedia article is a work in progress, and curious readers may wish to consult the Discussion page for this purpose.

[edit] List

Some of these people (*) believed they had syphilis and wrote about it in their diaries or it was otherwise well known by their peers. The list is sorted by birth year.

[edit] References

  • Hayden, Deborah (2003) Pox: Genius, Madness, and the Mysteries of Syphilis. New York, Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-02881-0.
  • Mackowiak, Philip A. (2003) Review of Hayden (2003). The New England Journal of Medicine 348:2585-2586. This review is also available on line.

[edit] External links

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