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From 1495 Naples to 1989 AIDS

Yehudi M. Felman, MD

Arch Dermatol. 1989;125(12):1698-1700.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

Although most likely found in Europe in low incidence for centuries, the first major pandemic of syphilis occurred in Europe in 1495, affecting the army of Charles VII of France as he was besieging Naples.¹ In his army were Spanish mercenaries, who, according to the Columbian theory of the origin of syphilis, had become infected as a result of the return to Seville and, subsequently, to Barcelona in 1490 of several members of Columbus' crew, who had been infected with syphilis acquired from New World natives and had brought the disease into Spain.² As Charles' army returned north after conquering Naples, syphilis began to spread all over the Italian peninsula, soon becoming known as the morbo gallico or the French disease.³ By 1497, the disease had spread all over Europe, appearing even in Scotland. In France, the disease was called le mal de Naples and in England, . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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