Medicine: WHO v. VD

The United Nations World Health Organization’s committee on venereal infections last week wound up a ten-day session of progress reports on its worldwide anti-VD campaign. The reports included some ugly facts of life:

¶An estimated 2,000,000 deaths a year are caused by syphilis alone.

¶In parts of eastern Africa, VD affects up to 50% of the population; in the northeastern provinces of China, up to 32%.

¶The U.S., with one of the lowest VD rates of any nation (Scandinavian countries are lower), loses $100 million a year in industry man-days because of VD.

¶Penicillin is still the best-known VD cure, but penicillin supplies are scarcest where they are most needed.