Syphilis in London’s Children’s Hospitals (1852 – 1921)

Authors

  • Matthew J. Lee
  • Thomas J. Siek
  • Cara S. Hirst

Keywords:

Syphilis, Children, London, Historic Hospital Admission Records Project, World War I.

Abstract

Establishing the palaeoepidemiology of diseases in children is a difficult task due to limited written and physical evidence. Historic admissions records from children’s hospitals can provide large data sets allowing insights into this area, rather than just case studies which are what most commonly appear within the palaeopathological literature. An oft ignored aspect of childhood illness is venereal disease due to the social taboo surrounding this topic. This study aimed to investigate the extent of syphilis within Victorian and Edwardian London’s children’s hospitals and explore the socioeconomic context this disease was occurring within. This was achieved by examining digitised hospital admissions data covering the mid-nineteenth to early twentieth centuries for three children’s hospitals. These records revealed a significant spike in admissions for congenital syphilis following World War One. This was likely due to the return of troops from the warfront who had been infected whilst in mainland Europe. It was also found that the upper levels of the working classes accounted for the majority of the admissions, despite these institutions being created to aid the children from the lowest socioeconomic groups. Finally, this paper highlights the need for researchers to also consider the possibility of children having acquired syphilis rather than congenital syphilis when examining such records

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Published

2021-12-20 — Updated on 2021-12-20

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Issue

Vol. 1 No. 1 (2021): Journal of Bioanthropology

Section

Research paper

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