# Danger, Will Robinson (Discussing increased incidences of syphilis in Texas)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson-discussing-increased-incidences-of-syphilis-in-texas/987050
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [July 15, 2023, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson-discussing-increased-incidences-of-syphilis-in-texas/987050 "2023-07-15T00:15:44Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2023, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson-discussing-increased-incidences-of-syphilis-in-texas/987050/21 "2023-07-15T19:27:27Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#):
>
> I wonder if unchecked immigration might be a factor in this. Are they screening immigrants for std’s?
“Immigrants as vectors for disease” is a racist stereotype. What’s your basis for perpetuating it?
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### Author:  [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2023, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson-discussing-increased-incidences-of-syphilis-in-texas/987050/22 "2023-07-15T20:14:00Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#):
>
> “Immigrants as vectors for disease” is a racist stereotype. What’s your basis for perpetuating it?
When you have an influx of sex workers you will have an increase in disease, nothing racist about that. It would be the first logical place to look. A person would have to be an idiot not to go down that path in an investigation.
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### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2023, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson-discussing-increased-incidences-of-syphilis-in-texas/987050/23 "2023-07-15T20:16:48Z")
Being an immigrant does not make you a sex worker.
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### Author:  [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2023, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson-discussing-increased-incidences-of-syphilis-in-texas/987050/24 "2023-07-15T20:18:36Z")
But to be fair (to immigrants) immigrants are far more likely to be victims of human trafficking, which may in turn involve coerced or forced sex work, although it is more commonly in the form of coerced/forced labor.
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### Author:  [@Eric1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eric1)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2023, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson-discussing-increased-incidences-of-syphilis-in-texas/987050/25 "2023-07-15T20:30:31Z")
The ethnic background of patients may related to treatment for syphilis but Medical privacy and lack of grants really prevents academic research i think. And ethnic background doesn’t go with the thread anyway.
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2023, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson-discussing-increased-incidences-of-syphilis-in-texas/987050/26 "2023-07-15T20:30:52Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#):
>
> I know it’s not the main topic of the thread, but why “Danger, Will Robinson”?
A particularly potent Cresco strain is to blame. Apologies for the title not being descriptive, to me it was.
Thanks to the mod who added to the title.
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### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2023, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson-discussing-increased-incidences-of-syphilis-in-texas/987050/27 "2023-07-15T20:39:22Z")
Of course.
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### Author:  [@Eric1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eric1)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2023, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson-discussing-increased-incidences-of-syphilis-in-texas/987050/28 "2023-07-15T20:50:01Z")
Maybe the stigma of preventing or treating a social disease is important too. When I accepted my doctor to get some vaccine for one, he said in a loud and disgusted voice “You’re not into unprotected sex are you?” This was in 1993 and I didn’t even know what I was saying yes to.
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2023, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson-discussing-increased-incidences-of-syphilis-in-texas/987050/29 "2023-07-15T21:02:46Z")
> [@Eric1](#):
>
> “You’re not into unprotected sex are you?”
One of the great things about being in a monogamous relationship is that unprotected sex is fine and dandy.
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### Author:  [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2023, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson-discussing-increased-incidences-of-syphilis-in-texas/987050/30 "2023-07-16T17:50:31Z")
> [@kayaker](#):
>
> > [@Love\_Rhombus](#):
> >
> > I know it’s not the main topic of the thread, but why “Danger, Will Robinson”?
>
> A particularly potent Cresco strain is to blame. Apologies for the title not being descriptive, to me it was.
>
> Thanks to the mod who added to the title.
Nope. Still needs unpacking.
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### Author:  [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2023, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson-discussing-increased-incidences-of-syphilis-in-texas/987050/31 "2023-07-16T18:19:36Z")
People sometimes forget prior to the advent of Pennicillin in the 1940s, Syphilis and Gonorrhea were basically uncurable. Sex mores weren’t necessarily about uptight prudery, there were practical considerations. Sometimes called “French Pox”, mercury was the treatment of choice for venereal diseases in the 18th century. The dose was said to be about right, if metallic or liquid mercury was seen oozing from the scalp when squeezed.
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### Author:  [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2023, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson-discussing-increased-incidences-of-syphilis-in-texas/987050/32 "2023-07-16T18:46:02Z")
> [@kayaker](#):
>
> Texas. We expect better of you.
We do?
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### Author:  [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2023, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson-discussing-increased-incidences-of-syphilis-in-texas/987050/33 "2023-07-16T18:50:27Z")
Disgregard, wrong thread, edited.
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### Author:  [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2023, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson-discussing-increased-incidences-of-syphilis-in-texas/987050/34 "2023-07-16T19:31:50Z")
Well that explains why I saw one of the “Syphilis Tsunami” billboards on a Dallas freeway a while back. (now it’s a [“Gonorrhea Alert”](https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/resizer/Kn62CPu0q5tAYb5p6zdjdHs_gRg=/1440x0/filters:format(jpg):quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/baltimorebanner/7IJDRPCGQBFCLPHXUGF32QBTR4.jpg) one, so maybe STDs are common in my part of town?)
> **[These STD Check Billboards are Going Viral](https://garage.vice.com/en_us/article/vb3gb3/these-std-check-billboards-are-going-viral)**
>
> A series of high-visibility billboard posters have treated LA residents to a sometimes jarring array of familiar images, with an echo of an iconic work of early-'90s art.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2023, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson-discussing-increased-incidences-of-syphilis-in-texas/987050/35 "2023-07-16T19:39:34Z")
They used to require a blood test to get married. Now they should do it to get a driver’s license renewed.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2023, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson-discussing-increased-incidences-of-syphilis-in-texas/987050/36 "2023-07-16T19:48:19Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#):
>
> When you have an influx of sex workers you will have an increase in disease, nothing racist about that.
Your demeaning assumption aside, when used as an excuse to harass people coming in through our southern border, it seems to me to be nothing _but_ racist.
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### Author:  [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2023, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson-discussing-increased-incidences-of-syphilis-in-texas/987050/37 "2023-07-16T19:58:37Z")
**Moderator Note**
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#):
>
> I wonder if unchecked immigration might be a factor in this. Are they screening immigrants for std’s?
There have been medical papers that do show a higher rate of STDs among immigrants, with the blame usually placed on a lack of proper education about STDs in the immigrant’s home country.
That said, this is also very much a stereotype used by racists to disparage immigrants.
Given the racist aspects of this accusation, let’s avoid it in this thread unless a proper scientific or medical cite can be provided.
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### Author:  [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2023, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson-discussing-increased-incidences-of-syphilis-in-texas/987050/38 "2023-07-16T21:44:10Z")
> [@bump](#):
>
> Well that explains why I saw one of the “Syphilis Tsunami” billboards on a Dallas freeway a while back. (now it’s a [“Gonorrhea Alert”](https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/resizer/Kn62CPu0q5tAYb5p6zdjdHs_gRg=/1440x0/filters:format(jpg):quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/baltimorebanner/7IJDRPCGQBFCLPHXUGF32QBTR4.jpg) one, so maybe STDs are common in my part of town?)
>
> [These STD Check Billboards are Going Viral - GARAGE](https://garage.vice.com/en_us/article/vb3gb3/these-std-check-billboards-are-going-viral)
Your link is describing billboards in L.A. in 2017. Which made me think I must not live the right neighborhood, because I never saw them.
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### Author:  [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2023, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson-discussing-increased-incidences-of-syphilis-in-texas/987050/39 "2023-07-16T22:06:27Z")
> [@kayaker](#):
>
> A particularly potent Cresco strain is to blame.
Google isn’t showing me any connection among the terms “Cresco,” “syphilis” and/or “Will Robinson.” Thus I’m still not understanding the thread title.
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### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2023, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson-discussing-increased-incidences-of-syphilis-in-texas/987050/40 "2023-07-16T22:09:03Z")
Ok. I’m a dummy but I know he was high when he wrote the thread title. STDs have nothing whatsoever to do with Danger, Will Robinson. It’s just used as an exclamation of surprise.
(Cresco is weed)
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