El problema de las enfermedades venéreas en las Américas

Abstract

Analysis of the data supplied by the American countries in the questionnaire sent out by PAHO in 1969 shows a rise in the incidence and prevalence of venereal diseases, reflected in greater morbidity and mortality as well, in a significant number of countries. This upward trend has been observable since 1950, as shown by the results of the WHO survey in 1961. Moreover, it has been noted that the advances made in the methods for the control of these diseases have not sufficed to bring them under control. The renewed importance of these diseases is explained by a combination of factors: the decline in their incidence after World War II; the false sense of security into which the health authorities and even the public were lulled by the successful introduction of treatment with penicillin, and the consequent lack of interest in continued application of veneral disease control measures and programs; the increase in promiscuity and sexual activity; prostitution; the increase in population density; and industrialization and urbanization, along with such related factors as social, economic and technological change, the use of contraceptives, and increased communications and population mobility

Although the statistical information contained in the tables and figures on the veneral disease situation in the American countries is not complete, the paper points out that, according to data compiled ...(AU)