Abstract
When syphilis first appeared in Europe in 1495, it was an acute and extremely unpleasant disease. After only a few years it was less severe than it once was, and it changed over the next 50 years into a milder, chronic disease. The severe early symptoms may have been the result of the disease being introduced into a new host population without any resistance mechanisms, but the change in virulence is most likely to have happened because of selection favouring milder strains of the pathogen. The symptoms of the virulent early disease were both debilitating and obvious to potential sexual partners of the infected, and strains that caused less obvious or painful symptoms would have enjoyed a higher transmission rate.
Royal Society Login
Sign in for Fellows of the Royal Society
Fellows: please access the online journals via the Fellows’ Room
Log in using your username and password
Log in through your institution
Pay Per Article - You may access this article or this issue (from the computer you are currently using) for 30 days.
Regain Access - You can regain access to a recent Pay per Article or Pay per Issue purchase if your access period has not yet expired.
May 2004
Volume: 271 Issue: Suppl 4
