Venereal diseases in India.

There are no accurate statistical data on the morbidity and mortality rates of venereal diseases in India. From the limited information available on the prevalence and incidence of venereal diseases, based upon the attendance of patients in clinics and hospitals, and from limited surveys of groups of population, it would appear that next to malaria and tuberculosis, venereal diseases (particularly syphilis) are a major public health problem. There is an unjustifiable complacency among the public, the medical profession, and even medical administrations regarding the importance and urgency of these social diseases. The "dying syphilologist " and the " expiring urologist" are examples of the expressions used by some of the unthinking among the medical profession. These diseases with a community-wide distribution cannot be controlled or combated on the basis of the individual treatment of persons who voluntarily attend public clinics or consult private physicians. The following facts emphasize the seriousness of the current situation. Treponemal diseases in the Indian Union are prevalent in three forms (a) venereal syphilis, (b) endemic syphilis-venereal and non-venereal, (c) yaws. Venereal syphilis is mostly prevalent in urban areas, cities, towns, seaports, and centres of industry or pilgrimage. Endemic syphilis is prevalent among the primitive hill folk inhabiting the vast subHimalayan area extending from Kashmir in the north-west to Assam in the north-east, and also to a certain extent in the slum populations of the large cities. Yaws is reported to be endemic in the valleys and hills of Assam, certain contiguous areas of the states of Andhra, Hyderabad, Madhya Pradesh, and Orissa, and in some isolated enclaves of the rural areas of the state of Madras (Rajam, 1955).