Gout, scabies, syphilis or scurvy... Diseases that arose from the past, which many believe have been forgotten. And yet: not content with continuing, some are even increasing. Surge in obesity, less fear of AIDS, precariousness, poor diet or vaccine mistrust... Paradoxically, it is sometimes modernity that favors their return.
Francis I, Beethoven, Rimbaud, Maupassant or Stalin... All paid their tribute to the "great pox", whose fate was thought to have been sealed by advances in medicine. "But syphilis is back," confirms Professor Nicolas Dupin, dermatologist and venereologist (Cochin Hospital, Paris). Admittedly, not in the same proportions as in 1860, when it killed 120,000 Frenchmen; but while it had almost disappeared in the years 1980-1990, the CeGIDD (Free Information, Screening and Diagnosis Centers for Sexually Transmitted Infections) reported 3300 cases in 2021. Figures probably below reality since...
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