‘Too Little Action On V.D.’

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31001, 5 March 1966, Page 21

‘Too Little Action On V.D.’

Too little action had been taken in New Zealand to attack venereal disease and educate the public about it, said the new president of the Canterbury branch of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Dr. W. M. Platts. He was giving his presidential address to the branch’s annual meeting.

No funds were at present available for the printing or purchase of suitable instructive material, or for public education in the wider sense, 'Dr. Platts said.

Rates of venereal disease had been rising all over the world since 1957, Dr. Platts said. In the future gonorrhoea would require strict control if it were not to increase, and the stage was set for an outbreak of syphilis. Syphilis was increasing in most countries, but fortunately there was no significant amount of it in New Zealand, partly because it was such an isolated country. However, the disease was increasing in countries all around New Zealand.

Major measures which should be taken against venereal diseases were the education of the public to understand them, the further education of doctors and

medical students, further tracing of persons who had come in contact with carriers of the diseases, and the maintaining of high standards in the free clinic and laboratory services. Venereal disease had shown a decrease from the end of the war until about 1957, since when there had been a marked increase all over the world. His opinion was that changes in social behaviour were largely responsible for this, for instance increased promiscuity, particularly in the 13 to 20 years age group. The title of Dr. Platt”s address was “The History of Epidemiology of the social diseases.’” He started by tracing the history, nature and

symptoms of venereal diseases, concentrating on the two main ones, gonorrhoea and syphilis.

Gonorrhoea was probably referred to for the nrst time in the Old Testament, Dr. Platts said. It was named about A.D. 30. Syphilis appeared suddenly after Christopher Colombus discovered Hispaniola and Cuba in 1493. The infection became widespread in Spain after Colombus returned there. The pestilence then spread rapidly through Europe, and killed millions. It later spread to Asia.

The major breakthrough in the cure of both diseases came in the early twentieth century.