DISEASE IN BAIE - WAS IT SYPHILIS

  • 1 January 1977
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 116  (11) , 1284-+
Abstract
In 1773 an epidemic disease with cutaneous manifestations appeared in Saint Paul''s Bay, Quebec, Canada and spread rapidly from nearby les Eboulements to the entire Island of Montreal. The epidemic was reminiscent of a typical outbreak of syphilis, a condition then well known in Europe. Dr. Charles Blake of Montreal, and Drs. James Bowman and Philippe Badelart of Quebec, would not acknowledge any other diagnosis. The latter 2 physicians were commissioned by General Haldimand, governor of Canada, to investigate and treat this new disease. Patients were often cured by potions or ointments containing Hg if used from the onset of symptoms. However, Dr. Robert Jones, another physician from Montreal, submitted a different opinion: the clinical course of the disease, the anomalies of its transmission, its sometimes intriguing sequelae and its unpredictable response to mercurial therapy indicated that it might be an entity entirely different from syphilis as it was then known in Europe. Half a century earlier, in Scotland, a similar outbreak had occurred for which the same reservation had been made with regard to a possible diagnosis of syphilis.

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