In a western starring Lee Marvin (Cat Ballou?), reference is made to a cure for VD the first step of which is “…heat a silver needle 'till it’s red-hot…”. Was this simply made up, or was there ever really such a procedure?
I know that pre-Paul Ehrlich, the cure was extremely painful, though the movie may have exaggerated.
“East is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does.” – Marx
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It really kind of depended on the type of VD. I could see them treating Genital Warts with a hot needle, as they also used to treat normal warts in that manner I believe. Syphilis was treated through Arsnic Poisoning, the trick being to use enough to kill the disease without killing the patient. The different methods were probably all fairly painfull/degrading and not so effective or too effective.
>>Being Chaotic Evil means never having to say your sorry…unless the other guy is bigger than you.<<
—The dragon observes
The VD being referred to is most likely gonorrhea (“clap”). Before the introduction of effective oral antibiotic therapy in the 1930s, doctors tried to treat gonorrhea in men by inserting various instruments and substances into the urethra (the passage in the penis through which urine and semen flow), though I would think that most patients would draw the line at red-hot needles.
I suspect that the silver needle (actually more like a thick wire than a needle) was heated to red-hot to sterilize it but that the second step was allowing the instrument to cool. The third step would, presumably, be to insert the instrument. Inserting the instrument could be very painful, especially in a person with an already painful infection of the urethra.
Some medial historians wonder whether some early VD treatments weren’t more punitive than therapeutic.
Wasn’t one of those clap cures the introduction of mercury into the urethra, or am I misremembering something I think I might have read?
The method I’ve heard of involves a small rod. The rod has small retractible razors near the tip. The rod is inserted into the eurethra with the blades retracted and then withdrawn with the blades extended enough to ‘strip’ away a thin layer of the eurethra’s lining. I’m uncertain of the voracity of these claims, since they involved a restraining device which I can’t picture any doctor’s office being equipped with.
Stephen
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I’ve alsm heard that there was a chinese treatment that involved various herbs and mold. Sign me up for that one,
Larry
Stephen…what you may be referring to is the treatment for “Bull Head Clap”, a horrible variation of our everyday, run of the mill, clap… It is Vietnamise in origin (I think), painful as hell, and it caused your schlong to swell up to double or triple its normal size.
Once it blocked off urine flow, treatment had to be found or you’d die.
The treatment was the insertion of a longish rod with retractable razors in the tip. The razors only popped out enough to slice open the inner wall of the urethra. Then, the medic would yank it out, slicing open the walls–and all the nasty stuff would shoot out. At that point, antibiotics could take care of the problem.
I haven’t seen any of this first-hand, but some friends of mine were Corpsmen during the Vietnam War. They tell of doctors dressed in full bio gear, performing the treatment to a line of sick and suffering GI’s. The stream of infection and blood that jetted out of the person’s schlong often splattered on the walls 20 or more feet away.
The most common first reactions, or so I hear, were an anguished scream followed the most peaceful and untroubled smile imaginable.
-David
Silver needles heated to red hot were used to lance and ‘disinfect’ chancres, supposedly curing them. (NOT!) Silver wire was also used.
Mercury was often applied to chancres to also disinfect them – again NOT!, though the poisoning probably killed quite a few sufferers and helped prevent the spread of the disease.
Arsenic was also used – but then it was often used in various medications of the time and no doubt can be directly linked to the early demise of thousands.
In WW2, the Navy had a simple treatment for sailors who forgot their rubbers. A short arm inspection in the sick bay was called for those who had unprotected sex and the surgeon grabbed each flapping cock and with a syringe, injected an oily antibiotic up the urethral passage – a painful process to be sure. Then the sailors had to message it thoroughly along the length of their very sore cocks. NOT a pleasant experience. It was designed to kill any potential infection before it could take root.
Actually, I think it was mainly prescribed to encourage the sailors to use rubbers. Those who either experienced or watched this process never left the ship in port without a pocketful of GI condoms afterwards.
What? Me worry?’