: From Europe to South Asia, naming diseases has often been driven by political rivalries #IndiaNEWS Here’s a funny story about syphilis: when this venereal disease came to Europe from the “New World�

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From Europe to South Asia, naming diseases has often been driven by political rivalries #IndiaNEWS
Here’s a funny story about syphilis: when this venereal disease came to Europe from the “New World� along with Columbus’ sailors, it cut a swathe of death and disfigurement across the continent earning itself the title of the Great Pox. Since it quickly became evident that it spread through sexual contact, the stigma carried by this disease became all the greater and so did the desire to want to have absolutely nothing to do with it on a national level. The first written notes on syphilis come from an Italian doctor named Nicolò Squillaci who in 1495 wrote: “Nothing could be more serious than this curse, this barbarian poison.�The use of “barbarian� is interesting as it indicates a desire to remove one’s own country and people from the list of “immoral� culprits, and in fact, to ascribe such foul deviancy to others. Thus, in Italy, syphilis was referred to as the “French disease�, an appellation eagerly adopted by the British and Germans as well. The French were having none of this, and counter-named it the “Neapolitan disease�, implying that it came through Italian sailors. For the Portuguese, Danish and much of North Africa it was the “Spanish disease�.The further East you went,...Read more

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