Reports from Britain indicate that Syphilis is making a comeback in the population because of promiscuity among middle-aged men.
Cases of Syphilis a sexually transmitted infection, are reported to have shot up more than tenfold in the past decade. Overall UK diagnoses of syphilis shot up by more than 1,000 per cent from 223 cases in 1999 to 2,524 cases in 2008.
Syphilis can cause serious illnesses including, weeping sores, madness or death in its third stage. It was once believed to have been wiped out in the western world with the advent of penicillin.
Sexual health clinics say the rise in syphilis in the UK can also be traced back to increased contact with former Eastern Bloc countries such as Russia and Poland, where the disease has remained endemic.
The greatest number was seen in men, with 2,248 cases, compared with 276 in women.
Cases among heterosexual men rose from 113 in 1999 to 858 last year, while cases among gay men rose from 53 to 1,390 over the same period.
Syphilis is said to have been the scourge of famous dictators from Adolf Hitler, Napoleon Bonaparte, and famous artists and composers like Vincent Van Gogh and Ludwig van Beethoven.
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