# Why wasn't syphilis stigmatized to the extent that HIV/AIDS was?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-syphilis-stigmatized-to-the-extent-that-hiv-aids-was/789809
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [June 25, 2017, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-syphilis-stigmatized-to-the-extent-that-hiv-aids-was/789809 "2017-06-25T04:51:35Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2017, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-syphilis-stigmatized-to-the-extent-that-hiv-aids-was/789809/41 "2017-06-27T18:07:49Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#):
>
> Seconded. This book was absolutely riveting.
Yes, it is an excellent and worthwhile read!
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2017, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-syphilis-stigmatized-to-the-extent-that-hiv-aids-was/789809/42 "2017-06-27T18:18:39Z")
> [@DrCube](#):
>
> A tainted transfusion killed my favorite writer, Isaac Asimov. ☹ And it was so stigmatized that nobody knew he died of AIDS until 10 years after his death, and almost 20 years after he first contracted HIV.
Really?! I thought he died of heart failure.
> **[Isaac Asimov](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov)**
>
> Isaac Asimov (⫽ˈæzɪmɒv⫽ AZ-ih-mov;\[b\] c. January 2, 1920\[a\] – April 6, 1992) was an American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke. A prolific writer, he wrote or edited more than 500 books. He also wrote an estimated 90,000 letters and postcards.\[c\] Best known for his hard science fiction, Asimov also wrote mysteries and fantasy, as...
Huh, how sad.
The heart failure couldn’t have been entirely due to HIV, seeing as he contracted the HIV from a blood transfusion during a triple bypass operation. But it was no-doubt a contributing factor.
He wrote pretty brutally about dying, and how it sucked to have heart failure. I wonder if some of the bitterness underlying those editorials was due to the stigma and general issues around having contracted HIV.
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2017, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-syphilis-stigmatized-to-the-extent-that-hiv-aids-was/789809/43 "2017-06-27T18:19:44Z")
I’ll join the bandwagon in favor of reading “And the Band Played On”. Depressing as all get out, and a really good read.
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2017, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-syphilis-stigmatized-to-the-extent-that-hiv-aids-was/789809/44 "2017-06-27T18:21:02Z")
> [@Evan\_Drake](#):
>
> …But some people, like longtime Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, America’s self-proclaimed “toughest sheriff,” feel that something as silly as due process is for other, lesser folk. Which is probably why he rules over his county like a syphilitic Roman emperor…
This is literally the first time I’ve seen anything vaguely contemporary use “syphilitic” as an insult. I really don’t think it’s at all common.
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### Author:  [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2017, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-syphilis-stigmatized-to-the-extent-that-hiv-aids-was/789809/45 "2017-06-29T09:22:20Z")
I think it’s a huge insult in Dutch. Not so common by itself in Spanish, but we do use it as an augmentative: _puta sifilítica_ is worse than _puta_.
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### Author:  [@Latro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Latro)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2017, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-syphilis-stigmatized-to-the-extent-that-hiv-aids-was/789809/46 "2017-06-29T09:57:42Z")
> [@Nava](#):
>
> I think it’s a huge insult in Dutch. Not so common by itself in Spanish, but we do use it as an augmentative: _puta sifilítica_ is worse than _puta_.
Never heard it.
Tyfus, Tering (Tuberculosis) and Kanker are often used as adjectives.
As in: \*Kanker hoer! \*
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### Author:  [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2017, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-syphilis-stigmatized-to-the-extent-that-hiv-aids-was/789809/47 "2017-06-29T10:25:03Z")
Yeah, thank you; that’s what I was trying to recall, the _kanker_ as a reference to chancres from syphillis.
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