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Te Ao Hou, December 1967, Page 57

? Free advice and treatment are available at hospital clinics and private treatment from general practitioners. ? Early treatment is imperative. Uncomplicated cases are curable. ? Venereal diseases cannot be cured without treatment, though symptoms disappear for long periods. ? The disease can be caught repeatedly. There is no immunity. ? All the contacts of infected persons must be warned and brought to treatment. When necessary, cases should help the authorities discreetly to trace suspects and follow them up. Venereal diseases cannot otherwise be brought under control. ? Medical aid is confidential. Personal privacy is protected by law, and only in the case of the infection of children under 16 years are parents or guardians notified. ? Of the two most common diseases, the more prevalent is gonorrhoea. Its symptoms are a discharge from the sex organs and stinging pain when passing water but it may not be noticeable in women. The symptoms appear three to seven days after intercourse and may pass, but the disease spreads and may cause blindness, heart trouble or arthritis. It can prevent men and women having children, or cause a diseased mother's baby to become blind. ? Syphilis, though less widespread in New Zealand, is more sinister. Untreated, it develops in three stages and is highly infectious during the first two. The first sign appears 10 to 90 days after infection in the form of a painless open (and in women often unnoticeable) sore on the genitals. This disappears and is followed three to six weeks later by any or all the symptoms of the second stage—fever, rashes, mouth sores, headaches, sore throat, falling hair. These symptoms can last for more than a year, after which the disease becomes latent for periods up to 30 years or more. Among the consequences after this third stage are blindness, insanity, heart disease, paralysis, deformity or death. A syphilitic mother passes the disease to her unborn child, but treatment during pregnancy cures them both. All stages of syphilis can be detected by a simple blood test. ? Venereal diseases are spread through sexual intercourse. The germs are so fragile that they die within seconds outside the the warmth and moisture of the body. There is little chance, therefore, of accidental infection through contact with door knobs or lavatory seals. Syphilis can, however, be caught through contact with syphilitic sores, and sharing a cup or cigarette with a syphilitic who has mouth ulcers can be dangerous. ? Both diseases are readily curable if treated early and as a result of the use of modern drugs, treatment of syphilis has been reduced from two years to a fortnight and that of gonorrhoea from six weeks to two days. The rise in venereal diseases has been ascribed primarily to changed moral outlook, disruption of family life, and promiscuity, particularly among young people. Those who drift into casual relationships may come into contact with infected persons and later discover that they, too, have picked up the disease. The new victim then becomes a link in the chain and so it goes on, but everyone has a moral responsibility towards the rest. Some people, particularly men, hesitate to warn their contacts. This is false delicacy, resulting from ignorance. Those for whom it is difficult to follow up a contact personally can help by consulting a clinic or a doctor. Everybody should know about the dangers of venereal diseases and how to avoid them. Information is available through the Health Department, hospital clinics and medical practitioners. Most libraries have books on the subject or can obtain some.