Topic description and stories

Syphilitic City: one in five Georgian Londoners had syphilis by their mid-30s, study suggests

06 Jul 2020

250 years ago, over one-fifth of Londoners had been treated for syphilis by their 35th birthday, historians have calculated.

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Detail from plate 5 of Hogarth’s “A Harlot’s Progress”, with the protagonist, Moll, dying of syphilis.

Pox populi: Study calculates 18th century syphilis rates for first time

14 Sep 2017

The unlikely coincidence of a local hospital record and a census led by a pioneering physician has enabled the first study charting rates of venereal...

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