poxblog

Another note on Lenin

While I was working on the Lenin story, I noticed an odd juxtaposition: on my computer screen, Lenin was lying in state in his masoleum in Moscow while on my television screen, Ronald Reagan was lying in state in Washington. As I was tracking down Oskar Vogt's slices of Lenin's brain, wondering what proof of pox could be found in those pickled tissues, I was remembering a post I did some time ago about a study showing spirochetes (of a different sort) in the brains of Alzheimer's patients, questioning then why that study had not been replicated.

A few days later Gavin Yamey, who wrote a lovely review of POX for the British Medical Journal asked me to do an article on the ethics of using bodily remains for medical testing for the new international health journal that is part of the the “open access” movement, a non-profit committed to making the biomedical literature a freely available public resource. (His contact info: http://plosmedicine.org) --Gavin Yamey MD, MRCP. Magazine Editor, PLoS Medicine, Public Library of Science, 185 Berry St, Ste. 1300, San Francisco, CA 94107 USA http://www.plos.org).

Thinking as I have been for the past few days about various remaining body parts of the deceased famous, I was wondering how much land/resources are currently being used to dispose of people who die today. Is there a better alternative to the Neptune Society? I just received an email from Mark Meritt, who posted the statistics -- as well as a green alternative-- on his new website, potluck.com. Non-Fiction - Essay: Adding a Final Nail to the Coffin, by Mark S. Meritt - June 28, 2004

But enough cheery thoughts for tonight.

Lenin article

I see that Chris Chivers' article was picked up this week by the International Herald Tribune and The Moscow Times. Be interesting to see where this goes.

Lenin Syphilis article--European Journal of Neurology June 2004

The enigma of Lenin’s (1870–1924) malady
V. Lernera, Y. Finkelsteinb and E. Witztuma
aMental Health Center, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University, Be’er Sheva, Israel; bDepartment of Neurology,
Sha’arei Zedek Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel, affiliated with Ben-Gurion University, Be’er Sheva, Israel

Received 29 October 2003
Accepted 2 January 2004
The health of heads of states is not always handled in the same way as an incapacitating
disability in ordinary professionals. Instead of suspension of responsibilities, the
health status of political leaders is concealed, especially when the illness is perceived as
stigmatizing, such as organic mental impairment or sexual disorder. The objective of
the present paper is to analyse the malady of Lenin (1870–1924) in the light of relevant
and newmedical information. It is hoped that this will accentuate the need for
transparency when the health of a statesman is concerned.
376

Interview in NYT on Lenin--June 22

New York Times Link
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Last week I worked on an article on Lenin's syphilis with Chris Chivers of the Moscow Bureau of the New York Times It was in response to an article by three Israeli scholars in the June issue of the European Journal of Neurology (posted above). The "smoking gun" (despite what Professor Freeze says) was the fact that eleven of Lenin's doctors during his last days agreed to prescribing Salvarsan. Several of the doctors were well-known syphilologists, including Max Nonne, a student of the famous nineteenth century syphilologist Wilhelm Erb. The authors stated this in the article published in Israel but left it out in the European Journal. They told Chris who told me; I emailed Israel to confirm, which they did, just in time for Chris's deadline; he left out that it was ELEVEN doctors who concurred. The toxic Salvarsan was discontinued because of side effects. The article is cut in below:

June 22, 2004
A Retrospective Diagnosis Says Lenin Had Syphilis
By C. J. CHIVERS

MOSCOW, June 21 - Whispers have circulated for decades that Lenin, founder of the Bolshevik Party and the totalitarian Soviet state it ushered to power, was afflicted with syphilis throughout his career. Now a new study turns that speculation into a retrospective diagnosis.

Churchill--Jack London--Frida Kahlo--Henry VIII--more to be done

I have recently been sent very interesting emails about the four people above as possible/probable syphilitics. Someone at Princeton emailed that Frida Kahlo had a positive Wassermann test. I read the biography she suggested, and there is work to be done there. Jack London was new to me-- a suggestion from someone on a sailboat last week. (The first Google search brought up Jack the Ripper as well). Henry VIII would have been a chapter in Pox if I had more space. The question here: how did psychological manifestations change over the centuries, referring to the essay by Hare suggesting that paresis was a late 18th century development.

I had not seen Randolph Churchill questioned (though how much Winston knew and what it meant to him is an interesting sideline) -- until I came across this website on Churchill's syphilis. LORD RANDOLPH CHURCHILL: MALADIES ET MORT:"It is impossible to say at this late date what killed Sir Winston Churchill's father. But it is no longer possible to say that he died of syphilis."
I'll comment on that when I have a chance. On first read I note that the author discounts the diagnosis because Jenny and the sons were not infected. Since syphilis was only infectious for the first few years, this does not follow, though it is often given as an argument that if the wife was healthy, the husband must have been as well. A recent article in the Oscar Wilde newsletter INTENTIONS made that argument. This article presents a very clear-cut case of GPI or paresis, in the context of denying it.

Wilde & Syphilis; info about the Oscar Wilde Society

The current issue of Intentions (No. 31, April 2004), published by the Oscar Wilde Society, has notes from an author's lunch with Neil McKenna, author of The Secret Life of Oscar Wilde. When asked "on a lighter note . . . Did he have syphilis?" the answer was: "There is no medical evidence at all of syphilitic symptoms in Oscar. If he had had syphilis then it's probable that his children would not have been so healthy. I have discussed this with Merlin Holand and I agree wholeheartedly with his view that Oscar did not have syphilis." (p. 18) He notes that Dr. Lanphier Vernon Jones, a gonorrhoea specialist, treated him when he came back from Algiers. The unpaid bill is in the PRO. McKenna suggests that Oscar's "fatal and foolhearty decision to sue Queensberry was made under the influences of the opiates he was taking" to deal with "the horrors of treatment for gonorrhoea."

In response: of course, syphilis cannot be dismissed this easily, given the vast amount of circumstantial evidence that points to Wilde's having had it (and knowing he had it and his friends and doctors knowing he had it). Healthy children are not an argument against syphilis, since the disease was only highly contagious for two years (less so for three more) and he married Constance many years after his hypothesized infection and treatment with mercury at Oxford. (Of course a relapse is possible later, and there has been speculation that Constance's spinal paralysis and her comment "You know you made me sick" suggest a possible infection.) Dermatology and syphilology were sister disciplines in Wilde's time. Was there such a thing as a "gonorrhoea specialist"? An interesting lead to track down further.

Meanwhile, here is subscription information for the Oscar Wilde Society. The editor, Don Mead, emailed that there would be further discussion of the syphilis question in the next issue of THE WILDEAN. Subscribe now!

Meriwether Lewis's Syphilis

Yesterday on Science Friday Ira Flatow did a program on the flora and fauna that Lewis & Clark brought back from their expedition. None of the guests mentioned one tiny passenger that, according to many Lewis biographers, hitched a ride back home with him and with many of his men: that is, T. Pallidum, the spirochete that causes syphilis. There has been a debate about whether T. Pallidum is plant or animal, which I believe has been settled for now, though I can't remember which won. For those interested in the syphilis hypothesis, read "Trail's End for Meriwether Lewis: The Role of Syphilis," by Reimert Thorolf Ravenholt, "Did Ambrose Bierce Sanitize Meriwether Lewis's Death?", also by Rei Ravenholt, or, if you prefer fiction, the novel Eclipse by Richard S. Wheeler. Tom P. Lowry has a whole book on the topic of the role of syphilis in the Lewis & Clark expedition, currently with a university press, alas, not in time for the bicentennial. I am curious why none of Ira Flatow's guests mentioned syphilis: did they not know of the diagnosis, disagree with it, or feel that it is too shameful to mention? Meriwether Lewis: another historical figure whose hypothesized Pox has been ignored by most writers. What a good question to reopen in this bicentennial year.

"Did Wilde Have Syphilis?" A response to Ashley Robins

Here is the response to Ashley's statement about Wilde's hypothesized syphilis, publshed in THE WILDEAN, January/February 2004. See below for Ashley's initial statement.

A RESPONSE TO ASHLEY ROBINS

The email correspondence with Ashley Robins that began with a simple question about Oscar Wilde’s ear infection quickly burgeoned into a stimulating exchange about retrospective diagnosis. Our dialogue focused on the differences of method and philosophy between medicine today and nineteenth century syphilology. His thoughtful, medical-fact-filled emails from South Africa sent me poring over my extensive collection of pre-penicillin syphilis texts as I scrambled to recreate the mindset of a nineteenth century syphilologist.

At the end of our exchange, Ashley and I agreed on the four key points that he has summarized here: 1) syphilis was not the direct cause of Wilde’s death, 2) there is no proof that syphilis was implicated in his ear infection, 3) there was no indication of tertiary neurosyphilis, and 4) Wilde’s itchy rash could have been caused by many different conditions. Statements about Wilde’s syphilis by his coterie require careful scrutiny. And as for Ashley’s summary statement: true—there is no one piece of evidence that leads to a diagnosis of syphilis.

Why, then, am I so convinced that Wilde suffered from syphilis? And why were his close friends, several of his doctors, and the majority of his biographers equally convinced?

Ashley Robins Con Statement "Did Wilde Have Syphilis?" Published in THE WILDEAN, Jan-Feb 2004

A more neatly spaced version of Ashley's article will be posted soon. This is for a few people who asked to read it right away. Subscription info to THE WILDEAN will be posted soon as well. Next, I'll post my response.

DID WILDE HAVE SYPHILIS?

Deborah Hayden may not be medically trained but her knowledge and
understanding of syphilis, especially in the nineteenth and early
twentieth century context, are remarkable. She is to be congratulated on
her recently published and acclaimed book, Pox: Genius, Madness, and the
Mysteries of Syphilis, in which she gives an overview of
syphilis and then develops case studies on about a dozen historical
figures (Beethoven, Nietzsche, van Gogh and Joyce to mention a
few)suspected of having been infected. In these individuals she
describes the impact of the disease on their lives, careers and
personalities.

Oscar Wilde syphilis debate--update

The January/February 2004 issue of the Wildean, the journal of the Oscar Wilde Society, has a pro/con article about the syphilis question. Ashley Robins, South African psychopharmacologist and author of an article in the Lancet on the syphilis question, wrote an essay summarizing the reasons why there is no clinical proof that Wilde had syphilis. I wrote a reply, agreeing that there is no clinical proof, but suggesting that there is more than enough circumstantial evidence to have convinced a nineteenth century syphilologist that Wilde had syphilis. The editor, Donald Mead, has agreed to let me post the article on this blog, which I will do soon. He plans to publish letters about the debate in the next issue, so I will include his contact information as well.