# STD in the 60s - Vietnam Rose
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/std-in-the-60s-vietnam-rose/254704
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [July 12, 2004, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/std-in-the-60s-vietnam-rose/254704 "2004-07-12T14:56:45Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@JillGat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JillGat)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2004, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/std-in-the-60s-vietnam-rose/254704/1 "2004-07-12T14:56:45Z")
I have heard anecdotally from several Vietnam veterans that there was a deadly sexually transmitted infection being contracted in that region of the world - mostly by soldiers - in the 1960s-1970s called “Vietnam Rose” or “Black Pox.” It was thought to be fatal. I haven’t heard of any modern STDs that fit this description. Has anyone else heard of this?
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### Author:  [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2004, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/std-in-the-60s-vietnam-rose/254704/2 "2004-07-12T15:22:02Z")
From [this site:](http://www.prohighway.com/chat/cdoctopub/history.asp?head=h&DTCHATDATE=21/8/2001&STRCHATSTARTTIME=9:00:00%20PM)
> [@](#):
>
> Q. What is Vietnam Rose ?
> A. There is confusion as to the term ‘Vietnam Rose.’ It apparently refers to a certain STD which was prevalent during the time of the war with the Americans. It has been referred as a resistant strain of gonorrhoea. Other people has referred to it as genital warts or other genital lesions. It is not a medically recognized term.
I wonder if the movie [The Kiss of Death](http://www.kungfucinema.com/reviews/kissofdeath.htm) has anything to do with it.
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### Author:  [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2004, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/std-in-the-60s-vietnam-rose/254704/3 "2004-07-12T18:33:33Z")
This reminds me of an urban legend about “black syphilis” that I heard in high school, told as 100% true by, of all people, the sex ed teacher. He was quite literally a fucking moron. I found one page that mentions the same story but gives less detail than my teacher’s version: [http://www.rappstreet.org/FAQ-index-myfaq-yes-id\_cat-2.html#q291](http://www.rappstreet.org/FAQ-index-myfaq-yes-id_cat-2.html#q291)
> [@](#):
>
> There is also a legend that came out of the Vietnam Conflict.
> The story: There was an incurable venerial disease that was indigenous to Vietnam. It is called “Black Syphilis” whenever a G.I. contracted the disease he was sent to an island where he would spend the rest of his life. His family would be informed that he was killed in action.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2004, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/std-in-the-60s-vietnam-rose/254704/4 "2004-07-12T19:43:16Z")
I wonder if it occcured to the bigots of the time that the “black syphilis” rumor is an argument for interracial sex. After all, if blacks and whites had different types of syphilis, each immune to the other, then a white man would have no risk of contracting syphilis from a black woman, or vice versa.
And it’s my understanding, from talking with my Vietnam vet father, that many of the STD stories in Vietnam were deliberately embellished by officers, in an attempt to discourage the men from consorting with prostitutes. There were also stories of female VC who would work as prostitutes and hide razor blades inside their orifices, so that the American johns would bleed to death (oddly, these stories never had the prostitute assassins just using poison or a knife in the back, which one would suppose would be much easier).
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### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2004, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/std-in-the-60s-vietnam-rose/254704/5 "2004-07-13T02:20:25Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> There were also stories of female VC who would work as prostitutes and hide razor blades inside their orifices, so that the American johns would bleed to death (oddly, these stories never had the prostitute assassins just using poison or a knife in the back, which one would suppose would be much easier).
Obviously an urban legend. It’s been shown in a thread just today that it was actually “teeth” that did the damage! 😃
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### Author:  [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2004, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/std-in-the-60s-vietnam-rose/254704/6 "2004-07-13T03:23:10Z")
> [@bibliophage](#):
>
> … the sex ed teacher. He was quite literally a fucking moron]
Literally? As in, he had an IQ below 70 and was also having sex?
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### Author:  [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2004, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/std-in-the-60s-vietnam-rose/254704/7 "2004-07-13T04:10:07Z")
> [@AndrewT](#):
>
> Literally? As in, he had an IQ below 70 and was also having sex?
Kidd Rock was your Sex Ed teacher?
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### Author:  [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2004, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/std-in-the-60s-vietnam-rose/254704/8 "2004-07-13T04:37:25Z")
I will attest that the story of ‘Black Syphilis’ was bandied about when i was stationed in Northern Iraq during the First Gulf War.
We heard tell through the grapevine that a Marine had slept with a Kurdish prostitute and caught it. Even though they shipped him to the hospital at the Air Force base in Ankara (Turkey), he ended up dying in a matter of weeks.
In the words of my Platoon Sergeant, “Might be true. Might not. But I’d consider it a sign to keep your d!ck in your goddamn pants anyway…”
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### Author:  [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2004, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/std-in-the-60s-vietnam-rose/254704/9 "2004-07-13T16:57:35Z")
> [@picker](#):
>
> In the words of my Platoon Sergeant, “Might be true. Might not. But I’d consider it a sign to keep your d!ck in your goddamn pants anyway…”
And as **Chronos** suggested, that line of thinking probably has a lot to do with what keeps these stories in circulation.