Advantages And Disadvantages Of Reverse Sequence Syphilis Screening

Syphilis is spread through contact with a syphilis sore (Syphilis). It has a wide range of side effects, and if left untreated can turn into a serious problem. There are several tests for syphilis, including blood, tissue, and fluid (from syphilis sores) tests. The rapid plasma regain test (RPR test), for example, tests blood or spinal fluid for syphilis antibodies (or T Pallidum antibodies), but because these antibodies are nonspecific to syphilis, this can result in a false positive. The enzyme immunoassay (EIA) test is the second test used to confirm syphilis in someone who tested positive in the RPR test. It also tests for syphilis antibodies. Its treatment has evolved a lot. In the 1940s, it was treated primarily by penicillin, which is most likely what Henrietta Lacks would have used to be treated for this disease if she got proper treatment (Progress). Now, a variety of antibiotics are used to treat syphilis, including penicillin. The dosage is small in the early stages but increased later. Harm done in the third stage cannot be reversed though

The experiment first began in 1932, in a small county within the Macon County of Alabama area. In this are rate of syphilis was up by 35%. Interestingly, the setting of the study was conducted at the Tuskegee Institute, which we know now to be Tuskegee University. The study conducted of 399 men, 201 out of the 399 were used as the control group. The control group contained of those who actually didn’t have the diseases. The study also targeted those who were poor and illiterate. A lot of those patients had the slightest clue to which they were being tested for, only being told they had “bad blood”. The doctors participating in the study thought it would be vital; to not inform

Prachand, Sumeet, et al. “Vertebrates: An Alternative to Animal Testing Methods.” International Journal of Pharmacy & Life Sciences, vol. 7, no. 9, Sept. 2016, p. 74.

ii. According to the former scientific executive of Huntingdon Life Sciences, animal tests and human results agree “5%-25% of the time.”

.The study consisted of a total of “ 600 African- American men; 399 that were previously identified with having syphilis and 201 were uninfected” (“USPHS Syphilis Study” 1). Throughout the entire study the men were never told that they had syphilis, only told that have a condition known as “bad blood”.

Tuskegee Syphilis Study was originally a program to help improve the health of poor African Americans in the south, but later on, in the program, a dark turn was taken, and it ended up harming African Americans instead of helping. Starting in the 1900s syphilis was a widely spread sexually transmitted disease. In 1905 Fritz Schaudinn and Erich Hoffman discovered the bacteria that causes syphilis and then a year later August Wassermann introduced the first diagnostic blood test to identify syphilis (page 747). Then, in 1911 Paul Ehrlich created salvarsan, and although it could not treat syphilis it could halt the disease and prevent it from being infectious (page 747). Unfortunately, these events lead to the U.S. Public Health Service and Julius Rosenwald Fund creating a program to diagnose and treat syphilis in African Americans down in Mason County, Alabama (page 747).

Prior to 1932 information concerning the origin, conception, development, and the complications of untreated syphilis was known to medical science. The one element left to be known about this disease was a cure. By this time, scientist were well aware of the fact that syphilis was a highly contagious disease caused by treponema pallidum, a microscopic organism resembling a corkscrew. The disease may be acquired, meaning passed from person-to-person either during sexual intercourse or mixing of bodily fluids, or congenital meaning obtained through birth. The disease progresses in three stages: primary, secondary, and tertiary. The

The other 201 men did not have the disease and were the control group. The men received certain types of free healthcare, and guaranteed burial provisions once they passed away, among other things. There was no treatment for syphilis at the time that the study began, but even once a cure was found, the participants were denied treatment. During the course of the study, dozens of men, along with their wives and children had either died or been infected with the disease. It was determined that although the men had agreed to participate in the study, they had not been given informed consent (giving participants enough information about a study to enable them to choose whether they wish to participate). There were a couple of violations of human rights and ethics during this study, namely that the participants were not given informed consent and they were denied treatment for their disease. Informed consent is an incredibly important of ethics in research. People have a right to know what they are going to be participating in and whether or not they really want to do it. The problem with denying the subjects treatment is pretty obvious, it was detrimental to their own and their family members’ health. Many of them died or

In the attempt to avoid complications and further accuracy of diagnosis, more modern tests have been created. The Roche Amplicor PCR, polymerase chain reaction, was the first diagnostic test using nucleic acid amplification. This type of test “involves rapid thermal cycling in a specially programmed thermal cycler.” Test samples usually consist of urethral swabs for both men and women and cervical swabs for women. The second nucleic acid amplification test was the Abbott LCx test. Instead of PCR, Abbot LCx uses LCR, ligase chain reaction, to test for diagnosis. Results from this particular test may contain a more accurate realization for the chlamydial bacteria because it is species specific. Both nucleic acid tests concentrate on finding certain mutations in the target DNA.

Before the Florida health department report or send in any information to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, they will make sure that his or her information is kept private, they will not disclose any personal information about the person who is tested positive for syphilis. The law that governs this is the "Florida Administrative Code 64D-3, entitled Control of Communicable Diseases and Conditions, which may significantly Affect Public Health, is the mandate that empowers the Department of Health to record communicable diseases and dictates when and how

Treponema pallidum bacterium, commonly known as Syphilis, is a disease that has wrought havoc on enumerable individuals and societies throughout the last millennium and some researchers postulate that its origins lie in the periods of prehistory (12 Lobdell, Johns E. 1974). Many modern theories presently exist in the scientific community in regards to the origins of syphilis and whilst a consensus has not been reached,

The customer feedback was fresh in Wyckoff’s mind as he returned to the proposal he had started

Although there has been thousands of reports of animal abuse in the field of medical testing, there has also been an extraordinary amount of success that come from these examinations. With these tests, scientists were able to advance in

Syphilis is one of the oldest sexually transmitted diseases in the world. The first recording of Syphilis was in Europe in 1495, but there is believed to be earlier cases that weren’t recognized. “The transatlantic origin of syphilis is still controversial as there was evidence of an endemic syphilis in Asia Minor before 1492” (JG, 1990) . There has not been a definitive origin for this disease and there were several different hypotheses on how it came to the United States. There have been 2 main theories proposed. The first was the New World or Columbian theory and the Old World or pre-Columbian theory. The first theory holds that the syphilis endemic started in the part of the world now known as Haiti and was then acquired and carried to Europe by Columbus in the 1400s. The second theory, pre-Columbian theory implies that syphilis began in central Africa and was brought to Europe prior to the voyage by Columbus. Recent studies have shown genetic differences between these organisms. Regardless of where the beginning of syphilis started, by 1495 a widespread syphilis epidemic had spread throughout Europe, and then on to India in 1498 and China in 1505. Since its discovery in Europe there have been many speculations that many famous ranging from political figures, musicians and some literary greats may have had syphilis. Some of those were Adolf Hitler, Ivan the Terrible, Henry VIII, Shakespeare, Napoleon, Abraham Lincoln, Lenin (Vladimir Ulyanov), Friedrich Nietzsche,

Although it is easily preventable, over 36,000 cases of syphilis are reported annually in the United States alone (“STD Facts-Syphilis” 2010). Treponema pallidum is the bacterium that causes syphilis. Being one of the most common STDs, syphilis is a bacterial sexually transmitted disease that acts quite differently from the other common STDs because it acts in stages. Fortunately, there are antibiotics to cure syphilis; however, there are not cures for the other health related problems that it causes.