The Australian Army's Two 'Traditional' Diseases: Gonorrhea and Syphilis -- A Military-Medical History During the Twentieth Century.

Two sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) marched in lockstep with the Australian Army in most, if not all, its overseas campaigns during the twentieth century. Gonorrhoea and syphilis, bacterial infections spread most commonly through sexual intercourse. This article illustrates through reference to the Australian Army's major overseas deployments; from the Boer War at the beginning of the century to the war in Vietnam, which ended in 1975. The primary purpose of the paper is to demonstrate the scale of STD infections in the Army's overseas deployments. There is, of course, a 'human' or 'sociological' aspect as well. When investigated, every STD episode can be seen to be a little disaster of its own; a mini-tragedy for the soldier contracting the STD, for the person who most often transmitted it to him and, beyond them, for their families. Subsequently, there is the medical aspect: the measures taken by the staff of the Army Medical Service to prevent the STDs and to treat those who contracted STDs. Significant though the sociological and medical aspects of the Army's experience of STDs are, this article does not dwell on them. Instead, the focus is statistical, showing the large scale of the STD problem during the Army's overseas deployments of the twentieth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]