Syphilis is a bacterial disease caused by the spirochete
Treponema palladium. While this may be something that most of us
have (thankfully!) never encountered there have been multiple
reports of this disease in the news and a recent resurgence in
infection rates around the globe. During the month of July and
August there was a moratorium in the California pornography
community due to an outbreak of syphilis that began with one
infected performer1 who forged his most recent test results
after it returned positive. This actor then went back to work
after treatment but while he was still highly contagious;
subsequently infecting nine individuals2. Since this outbreak
was discovered all involved persons have been treated and the
further spread of this disease has been prevented. However, this
outbreak this raises two significant questions about syphilis
and what it means to be infected: - What exactly is syphilis? -
Why is the appearance of syphilis so significant that it
required the shutdown of an entire indust