SINCE 1943, when Mahoney, Arnold and Harris first reported on the use of penicillin in the treatment of syphilis, many excellent papers have been presented dealing with the efficacy of various dosage schedules in the different manifestations of the disease. It is not our purpose in this discussion to add to these reports but rather to present information concerning a problem in the management of syphilis in northern Alberta and the manner in which it is being attacked.
The syphilis rate amongst the white population in this province has recently been extremely low, varying from 0.7 per 1,000 in 1945 to a present rate of 0.3 per 1,000. Two spot surveys, one in 1921 and one in 1935, had disclosed no evidence of syphilis in the population of northern Alberta in excess of that in the inhabitants of the province as a whole. However, during the early days of World