VENEREAL DISEASES AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES
In collaboration with the German society
against venereal diseases.
Adapted and filmed by Drs. C. Thomalla et N. Kaufmann.
Venereal diseases are caused
by microscopic living beings (microorganisms)
with an average size of 1/1,000 mm.
Illustration:
Representation of a pathogen (1/1,000 mm)
and of a spiral 1,000 times longer (1 mm).
Contamination occurs
by the transmission of the pathogen from one person another,
typically through sexual intercourse.
GONORRHEA (THE CLAP)
The pathogen, Gonococcus neisseri, can be found in the pus
secreted by the patient's urogenital system.
The staining of a pus preparation
to diagnose the disease with a microscope.
Large pus corpuscles are observed
as well as small punctiform organisms, gonococci.
(Micrography)
The accumulation of pathogens in the centre of the field of view.
In men, the infection starts in the anterior part of the urethra.
A diagram of the male pelvis.
Prostate
Bladder
Ureter
Testicle
Epididymis
Infection: on the next diagrams,
the gonococci have been greatly enlarged.
The pathogens nestle deep into the folds of the urethral mucosa.
They multiply rapidly,
leading to inflammation of the mucosa and secretion of pus. (Discharge)
In the absence of robust, adequate treatment at this stage,
the disease progresses...
... and attacks the prostate.
The pathogens reach the epididymides
via the spermatic cord.
This causes intense pain,
swelling and high fever.
Because of the inflammation, testicle ducts close up,
leading to sterility.
Then the inflammation progresses to the vesical mucosa,
and up to the renal pelvis and kidneys via the ureter.
Mortal danger!
Swelling of the mucosa.
Bladder
Ureter
Kidneys
Renal pelvis
These patients' urine is cloudy and flocculent.
Finally, the pathogens enter the blood.
A sectional drawing of the urethra.
Mucosa
Muscles
Cavernous body in the urethral wall.
Enlargement of the framed area.
Mucosa
Urethral mucosa
A gland
Blood vessels
The migration into the bloodstream
following the inflammation-induced loosening of the mucosa.
The bloodstream carries the pathogens to the heart.
Veins
Heart
Arteries
The micrography of the blood vessels and bloodstream.
Heart valves are affected (endocarditis).
Mortal danger!
Healthy heart valves.
Heart valve ulcers.
Inflammation of the heart valves.
Recovery leaves scarring on the valves.
Cardiac failure follows.
The heart sends the pathogens into the bloodstream,
which disseminates them throughout the body.
The infection becomes generalized and is accompanied by high fever.
Mortal danger!
The pathogens can also settle in the joints.
A diagram of a knee joint with the afferent arteries.
Femur
Patella
Popliteal fossa
Tibia
Popliteal artery
The gonorrhea pathogens cause an edema.
Gonococcal arthritis ensues.
The joint can remain stiff after recovery!
Even after the discharge has stopped and the patient seems recovered,
gonococci survive in the mucosa
and ducts in the posterior part of the urethra and prostate.
An irritation can induce discharge again.
Contamination is still possible even after a long period of time.
In women, gonorrhea is responsible for varied pathologies.
In addition to the urethra and bladder,
genital organs are particularly affected.
Gonococci reach the vagina...
Vagina
Uterus
Fallopian tubes
Ovaries
... and the uterus.
The pathogens settle in its glands and often resist treatment.
Then they reach the Fallopian tubes and ovaries.
All organs swell tremendously, which causes intense pain.
The inflamed mucosa sticks together, blocking the tubes.
Permanent sterility follows.
Dirty hands, etc., can bring the gonococci to the eyes,
thus causing a serious eye condition (gonococcal conjunctivitis).
Danger of blindness!
Patients!
Utmost cleanliness is your first duty!
Wash your hands!
A newborn's eyes are threatened if the mother has or has had gonorrhea.
During birth, the poison gets into the eyes,
and causes gonococcal ophtalmia neonatorum.
Close-up of a diseased eye.
A large number of inmates from institutes for the blind
have been victims of this type of contamination!
Midwives must instill a solution of silver nitrate
into the eyes of all newborns to eliminate gonococci.
Children's genital organs are particularly sensitive.
By having a bath after an infected person,
a little girl may be infected.
Always use clean water to bathe children!
Gonorrhea can be avoided!
Just like the instillation in newborns' eyes,
the immediate, thorough disinfection of adults' organs
destroys the pathogens and protects from the disease.
But if not done properly within the first few hours,
it may be ineffective.
If symptoms appear, see a doctor immediately!
Setting up robust, adequate treatment promptly
is the key to quick recovery without nasty consequences.
To avoid endangering fellow human beings,
patients' first duty is to maintain utmost cleanliness.
Wash often and correctly!
Not like that!
Like this!
DISINFECTANT
Soiled linen needs to be disinfected!
CORROSIVE SUBLIMATE
VENEREAL DISEASES AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES
PART 2.
CULTURAL DEPARTMENT OF THE UNIVERSUM FILM AG, BERLIN.
MEDICAL FILM ARCHIVES.
SYPHILIS
This pathogen belongs to the spirochete group.
These corkscrew-shaped microscopic organisms
move in a spiral motion.
Micrography of chicken spirochetes.
Micrography of Spirochaeta pallida.
Finer and more difficult to identify, it causes syphilis in human beings.
Spirochetes throng in the infected organs
and mucosae (oral cavity, etc.) of syphilitic patients.
They enter the body of the healthy person
via physical contact (sexual intercourse, kissing, etc.)
through broken skin.
Healthy skin
Wound
Stratum corneum
Stratum lucidum
Stratum granulosum
Stratum germinativum
Serous canal
Lymphatic vessels
Lymph node
Blood vessel
Syphilitic skin
Spirochetes
They multiply rapidly.
A chancre develops only 2-3 weeks after contamination.
It's the primary stage.
Often, no symptoms appear beforehand!
A small, invisible scratch, is enough for syphilis to enter.
We all have them on our genital organs, lips, hands or elsewhere.
The risk of contamination is thus constant.
Contamination happens most often in the genital area,
but also around the mouth, with a kiss
or dishes or cutlery previously used by someone else.
Use clean dishes and cutlery!
Never finish someone else's cigar or cigarette!
For example, with just chapped lips...
you can catch a syphilitic chancre on the lip.
The chancre is often invisible from the outside.
However, the risk of contamination is high.
Even tiny scratches on the fingers are dangerous.
Syphilitic chancre of the left nipple with swollen axillary lymph node.
Wet nurses can be contaminated by syphilitic infants.
Infants can be contaminated by syphilitic wet nurses.
Have your wet nurse examined by a doctor!
Pathogens follow lymphatic vessels
from the chancre to the nearest lymph nodes.
Inguinal lymph nodes swell
when the chancre is located in the genital area.
Submaxillar lymph nodes do the same
when contamination happens in the mouth area, etc.
Lymph nodes protect the body against intruders.
They hold pathogens back for a while.
But then, spirochetes enter blood vessels.
The bloodstream takes them
to all organs of the human body,
which results in widespread contamination.
This is the secondary stage.
Blood flowing in arteries (Micrography).
This stage brings breakouts and weeping ulcers,
as well as inflammation and ulceration of the throat.
These symptoms can go unnoticed and disappear rapidly.
At the same time, fever, headaches,
and neuroparalysis can appear.
Facial paralysis,
syphilitic patient at the secondary stage.
After this, other symptoms may not appear for a long time.
However, the person is genuinely ill.
If nothing is done against the disease,
the tertiary stage ultimately sets in!
Extensive, nasty ulcers appear, leaving extreme deformation.
The ulcer inside of the elbow has poorly healed with a rough scar.
And so the patient cannot extend his arm anymore.
Tertiary stage progressive syphilitic ulcer of the arm.
In the absence of treatment, all organs are severely affected.
Paralysis of the ocular muscles is frequent.
Pathogens enter the bones and destroy them.
They attack the liver and severely damage it.
Healthy liver.
Atrophied and inflamed liver
from a person who died from hepatic syphilis.
(syphilitic cirrhosis).
Pathogens nestle deep in the walls of the blood vessels.
They weaken and damage them and render them inefficient.
Healthy, smooth abdominal aorta.
A syphilitic patient's abdominal aorta.
The aorta wall was weakened.
It bulged and finally exploded, which caused internal bleeding.
This is a frequent consequence of untreated syphilis!
(Aortic aneurysm.)
After decades of seeming health, incurable pathologies suddenly appear:
syphilitic complications
1. Progressive ataxia (tabes) Syphilis is always the cause.
It makes walking difficult...
... or even impossible without a cane.
Often, patients can hardly write,
because they lose control of their limbs.
2. Softening of the brain (paralysis)
Alteration of the mind and personality.
Prodigality and attacks of acute mania.
Dementia renders the simplest tasks impossible,
such as getting dressed or undressed.
After a few years in a lunatic asylum, the patient dies.
The poisoning of unfortunate offspring
by syphilitic parents who neglect or are unaware of their condition,
causes nameless misfortune:
1. Miscarriages. 2. Premature births.
3. Malformations (saddlenose, etc.)
4. Children with skin, bone and other disorders,
who die within a few months or years.
5. Deaf or blind children 6. Idiotic children
Such are the frequent consequences
of badly or untreated syphilis in parents.
These terrible consequences can undoubtedly be avoided.
For this, robust, adequate treatment
implemented by a trustworthy doctor is absolutely essential.
(Beware of those who extol their own virtues in newspapers!)
The earlier the treatment (mercury or Salvarsan),
the easier and fuller the healing.
Immediate recovery and complete elimination of symptoms
are possible early in the first stage,
before the lymph nodes and blood are invaded.
If you have the slightest doubt, see a doctor!
Even at later stages, treatment often works wonders.
Caries of the skull from an untreated patient.
Syphilitic bone damage healed after treatment
from a person who died from another condition years later.
At first, symptoms are absent for a long time.
But the poison is in the body. One day, it reveals itself.
Consequences are usually severe.
In this period too, the doctor can detect the disease (and fight it)
using the Wassermann test performed on the patient's blood sample.
The sample is meticulously analyzed in a laboratory.
Additives are added,
then it is placed in an incubator to achieve a reaction.
When the reaction is complete, the doctor can determine
if the patient is syphilitic (+ positive reaction)
or not (- negative reaction), and begin treatment.
Wassermann test +++
Wassermann test -
The slightest doubt must be dispelled using the Wassermann test.
Treatment must continue until the test is negative.
Even after recovery,
a blood test needs to be done at least once a year
to prevent a relapse.
If you are ill, protect your fellow human beings:
1. Scrupulous cleanliness is crucial.
2. All contamination risks must be avoided.
The law forbids patients having sexual intercourse.
The doctor must remind them of the law,
and explain to them why they are a danger to others.
INFORMATION TO PEOPLE WITH A VENEREAL DISEASE
YOU ARE SUFFERING
FROM A CONTAGIOUS VENEREAL DISEASE
(GONORRHEA, SYPHILIS, CHANCRE).
STRICTLY FOLLOW YOUR TREATMENT AND YOU WILL RECOVER.
IF YOU DO NOT FOLLOW THE DOCTOR'S PRESCRIPTIONS
THE WORSE CAN HAPPEN.
ONLY A MEDICAL DOCTOR CAN ASSESS
HOW CONTAGIOUS YOU ARE,
FOR GONORRHEA,
USING REPEATED MICROSCOPIC EXAMINATIONS,
FOR SYPHILIS, THROUGH CLINICAL EXAMINATIONS
AND BLOOD TESTS OVER SEVERAL YEARS
YOU CAN ONLY STOP CHECK-UPS AND TREATMENT
IF THE DOCTOR FINDS YOU HEALTHY AND NON CONTAGIOUS.
MEANWHILE, SEXUAL INTERCOURSE AND MARRIAGE
ARE FORBIDDEN.
WHOEVER HAS SEXUAL INTERCOURSE
KNOWING THAT HE HAS A CONTAGIOUS VENEREAL DISEASE
SHALL BE PUNISHED WITH IMPRISONMENT
(SEE §3 OF THE LAW HEREINAFTER).
§3 WHOEVER PERFORMS A SEXUAL ACT
KNOWING OR ASSUMING THAT THEY HAVE
A CONTAGIOUS VENEREAL DISEASE
FACES A TERM OF PRISON OF UP TO 3 YEARS.
BETWEEN SPOUSES OR FIANCÉS,
LEGAL ACTION WILL BE TAKEN ONLY IF ONE OF THEM REQUESTS IT.
THERE IS A 6-MONTH LIMITATION PERIOD.
§4 - DOCTORS EXAMINING OR TREATING A PATIENT
WITH A CONTAGIOUS VENEREAL DISEASE
MUST INFORM THEM
OF THEIR CONDITION, THEIR CONTAGION
AND THE SENTENCE INCURRED FOR DEEDS DESCRIBED IN §3.
Subtitles: C. Bourgogne, E Fuchs, P. Kochanowski & L. Serris