For many years, most people have considered syphilis to be a rare, limited problem. First coming into notice during the heyday of the bohemians of the 19th century, it was known to manifest only in the rarest of circumstances. In fact, to the average person, syphilis was hardly enough of a concern to be considered a major sexual health problem. Even the disease’s most famous victim, Al Capone, was better known for his criminal empire than for having the disease. Artists from the heyday of the bohemian movement, like Charles Baudelaire and Paul Gauguin, were suspected of having died from the illness, but there was never any confirmation of such. However, if reports from Europe are any sort of indication, then this might not be the case for very long.
The latest sexual health statistics show that the number of cases of people having syphilis are on the rise across Europe. What was once among the rarest diseases, sexually-transmitted or otherwise, may become a more common public health concern, according to some members of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control. In yet another break from the traditionally-held tendencies of syphilis cases, the disease...