A case study: George F Hopf (1880-1960)

Congenital syphilis is the root cause of many diseases in humans today. Genome research can be a path to the diagnosis and prevention of multiple diseases.

My grandfather had syphilis, as did many other grandparents and great-grandparents a century ago. It was a pandemic for several hundred years. Most of us don’t know. It was considered terribly shameful and families kept it a secret at all costs. Medical records were rewritten to disguise the true diagnosis due to the stigma associated with the diagnosis.

In the process of tracing my family history, I was able to obtain the military records of my grandfather from Ottawa, Canada, where he served as a medic in 1915 in France for the Canadian Army during WWI. They recorded his military service in detail, including the lab. tests and treatments.

He complained of pain in his legs and hips and was hospitalized. His lab blood tests revealed a Wasserman of 3. A clear indication of syphilis. He was 38 years old and got it at 18. At this point he had it for about 20 years and was in the secondary or latent stage. He was unsuccessfully treated with Salverson 600, a lethal intravenous injection cocktail of arsenic and mercury, administered every day for 7 days.

The results were not remarkable with no changes to his Wassermann test and he was given a medical discharge illness and sent back to Canada with instructions to repeat the treatment in Calgary, he did not repeat it.

Syphilis is an insidious disease that can affect each and every system or structure in the body. Medical students are taught: “To know syphilis is to know medicine.”

I believe that when a person is infected with syphilis and in procreation it causes genetic mutations in future generations. My grandmother, whom he infected, died at age 55 of uterine cancer, the youngest in her large family to die so young. He had two children after becoming infected. His son, my father, had bipolar illness and was so tormented that he committed suicide at age 44. My younger brother committed suicide at the same age.

She had another child with a different man. This son also had mental problems and died in his 30s. Both of her sons had a classic congenital syphilis symptom, soft teeth. They both had dentures when they were teenagers.

I am the oldest of five. Each of us has medical problems that I blame on second generation syphilis mutations, my grandfather was diagnosed with myalgia on his discharge papers. I have the modern version, now called restless leg syndrome. I have nieces and nephews with the same affliction.

Some current research shows that it is a neurological condition, but we do not yet know what causes it. Some cases may have a genetic cause, but to date this has not been confirmed or studied.

My sister, Lorry, was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in 1937 as the youngest case recorder at the time. Today it is called Stills Disease. She had several outbreaks and died at the age of 61, crippled by her illness.

A brother, Ken, was born in 1939 and had congenital Bright’s disease, a kidney abnormality and later in life underwent surgery to relieve his symptoms.

Another sister Susan, 1942, was diagnosed with the blood disease: porphyria, died at age 52.

Whereas each of us had different diseases. I think they were all congenital and caused lifelong medical problems. None were attributed to our grandfather’s syphilis, because until recently we didn’t know it. Current research has also not explored or determined a connection to fraternal congenital syphilis.

In 2018 I got an extensive DNA report from Tell MeGen in Valencia, Spain, the results were remarkable. On the cover marked in bright red it said that I had the highest risk of having restless legs syndrome. He returned risk factors for another 350 problems and compared my risk factors to my average risk and to all average risks. I have an 80.95% risk of having restless leg syndrome. Other risk factors revealed were significant and true.

The documentation was a validation of my suspicions. That we had all inherited mutated DNA or RNA from our father and from his father. Although it manifested differently in each of us.

Discussion:

Sexually transmitted infection caused by Treponema pallidum Treponema subspecies pallidum Syphilis signs and symptoms vary depending on which of the four stages is present (primary, secondary, latent, and tertiary. The primary stage classically presents with a sore called canker. on a man’s penis, usually treated with mercury ointment. When a woman is infected, she may not realize it and may have mild flu-like symptoms. Syphilis is known as the great mimic, as it can cause symptoms similar to many other diseases.

Syphilis is most commonly transmitted through sexual activity. Diagnosis is usually made by blood tests. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that all pregnant women get tested.

In 2015, about 45 million people were infected with syphilis, with six million new cases. During 2015, it caused around 107,000 deaths, up from 202,000 in 1990.

After declining dramatically with the availability of penicillin in the 1940s, infection rates have increased since the turn of the millennium in many countries, often in combination with HIV (human immunodeficiency virus. This is believed to be due to Part of the increase in promiscuity, prostitution and the decrease in use of condoms and unsafe sexual practices between partners.

Congenital syphilis is one that is transmitted during pregnancy or during childbirth. It is commonly believed that two-thirds of syphilitic babies are born without obvious symptoms. Commonly identified symptoms that develop during the first years of life are enlarged hepatosplenomegaly of the liver and spleen (70%), rash (70%), fever (40%), neurosyphilis (20%) Pneumonitis, lung inflammation (20 %). .

Many ailments and diseases have unknown causes, thus limiting specific treatments. I propose that many have etiology in the family of sexually transmitted and uncured diseases such as syphilis. I would like scientists to develop tests to determine a genetic code and history of such diseases and a treatment to prevent subsequent generations from being affected by the Treponeme bacteria or its effect on future generations.

Most people will never have good luck, since I had to have documentation of syphilis. Therefore, we must rely on other means for such identification. It could be a huge scientific contribution towards prevention and improvement of quality of life if a syphilis-related gene or genes were identified.