Top 10 Historical Figures With Syphilis!
Painters, composers and genocidal maniacs: it takes all kinds to die of syphilis! In fact, about 15% of the world’s population in the 19th century contracted the dreaded venereal disease at some point in their lives.
These days, a positive STD test would lead to treatment for this curable disease, but for many who contracted the disease in those days, it could prove fatal. Here are the ten most famous historical figures suspected of having the sexually transmitted disease.
10 – Scott Joplin
Scott Joplin, known as the ‘King of Ragtime’, wrote the famous musical piece ‘The Entertainer’. However, Joplin’s last hours would not have been entertaining: he died in a mental institution suffering from the physical and mental influences of syphilis.
9 – Casanova
Casanova used a condom made from sheep’s gut and tied with a fancy pink ribbon. However, the sexually prolific Venetian adventurer and author was not as careful as he could have been and, as a result, suffered from frequent bouts of venereal diseases, including syphilis.
8 – Tolstoy
The Russian literary giant, author of ‘War and Peace’ and ‘Anna Karenina’ Leon Tolstoy suffered from syphilis during his youth, which was cured with arsenic treatment. In his novels, Tolstoy vividly examined the relationship between life and death.
7 – Ivan the Terrible
Ivan’s sexual promiscuity with both sexes, his latest illness, and many personality traits support the diagnosis of syphilis. He was often “treated” with mercury and died of mercury poisoning. However, it cannot be determined whether Ivan’s terrible problems were physical or psychological, and with anonymous STD testing still to be invented in Ivan’s era, we may never find out the truth.
6 – Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche was a 19th century German philosopher and philologist who had a great influence on philosophy, particularly existentialism and postmodernism. A popular, albeit highly disputed, story about Nietzsche is that he went mad after becoming infected with syphilis.
5 – Mussolini
Benito Mussolini took advantage of a grenade wound in World War I to cover up syphilis, according to an investigation that would explain the Italian dictator’s unusual refusal to show off his heroism at the front. The syphilis theory fits with the rumors that circulated in Italy during his rule and his chronic gastric problems, a symptom of the sexually transmitted disease.
4 – Henry VIII
The gradual mental decline and paranoia that Henry VIII developed as he aged was possibly the result of late-stage syphilis. However, this well-known theory was probably first promoted about 100 years after his death.
3 Beethoven
Whether Beethoven really had syphilis has been debated for decades. Since anonymous STD testing was not available at the time, we probably won’t find out. However, the composer was known to associate with prostitutes, and propagators of the theory often claim that illness is what made him deaf.
2 – Hitler
Adolf Hitler’s tremors and irregular heartbeat during the last years of his life could have been symptoms of late-stage syphilis, meaning that he had had the sexually transmitted disease for many years. His many symptoms included encephalitis, dizziness, pustules on his neck, chest pain, pounding heartbeats, and frequent bouts of paranoid anger.
1 – Shakespeare
After a careful examination of the writings of William Shakespeare, the Infectious Diseases Society of America published an article suggesting that Shakespeare probably had syphilis, and that his illness could possibly explain various events in his later years.