A lot of royalty and high ranking people had syphilis.
Winston Churchill's parents were supposed to have it. Must have gotten it after Winston was born.
Rasputin had it pretty bad, and it showed. He was nutty enough before it set in. One woman he transmitted it to tried to kill him because of it, and that messed up his health pretty badly as well.
The people were getting hosed in more ways than one.
I hope I'm not out of line saying so.
Not in my book. I feel little sympathy for adults who contract STDs. These are preventable diseases, and the cause is simple lack of judgement. It's the kids who have to deal with the consequences of their parents' poor sexual behavior that I feel sorry for.