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Article
April 1921

VISCERAL SYPHILIS: SYPHILIS OF THE INTESTINE

Author Affiliations

Professor of Dermatology and Syphilology, University of Michigan ANN ARBOR, MICH.

Arch Derm Syphilol. 1921;3(4_PART_1):372-376. doi:10.1001/archderm.1921.02350160027002
Abstract

With the exception of syphilis of the rectum, syphilis of the intestine may be said to be a rare entity, at least from the clinical stand-point. The condition is recognized frequently, however, in syphilis of the new-born, and we are principally indebted to pathologic reports for literature on cases of true intestinal syphilis in the acquired form of the disease. The bedside recognition of the condition, which today perhaps is facilitated by the serologic examination, was a few years ago well-nigh impossible. A few cases recognized intra vitam are from time to time seen in surgical clinics in which the patients are operated on for various abdominal conditions simulated by syphilis. Thus, for example, intestinal obstruction, perforation, peritonitis, tuberculosis and carcinoma are conditions for which operation is occasionally resorted to, and in which syphilitic conditions of the bowel, both small and large, are occasionally encountered. Neumann,1 while stating that

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