A Case Study: George F Hopf (1880-1960)

Congenital syphilis is the main cause of many diseases in humans today. Genome research can be a pathway for the diagnosis and prevention of multiple diseases.

My grandfather had syphilis, as did many other grandparents and great-grandparents a century ago. It was a pandemic for several hundred years. Most of us don’t know. He was considered terribly embarrassing and the families kept it a secret at all costs. Medical records were rewritten to hide the true diagnosis due to the stigma associated with the diagnosis.

In the process of tracing my family history, I was able to obtain my grandfather’s military records from Ottawa, Canada, where he served as a medic in 1915 in France for the Canadian Army during World War I. They recorded his military service in detail, including the lab. tests and treatments.

He complained of pain in his legs and hips and was hospitalized. His lab blood work revealed a Wasserman’s of 3. A clear indication of syphilis. He was 38 years old and got it when he was 18. He had already had it for about 20 years and it was in the secondary or latent stage. He was unsuccessfully treated with Salverson 600, a lethal intravenous injection cocktail of arsenic and mercury, administered every day for 7 days.

The results were unremarkable with no change in his Wassermann test and he was cleared and sent back to Canada with instructions to repeat the treatment in Calgary, he did not repeat it.

Syphilis is an insidious disease that can affect any and all systems or structures in the body. Medical students are instructed: “To know syphilis is to know medicine.”

I believe that when a person is infected with syphilis and during procreation, it causes genetic mutations in future generations. My grandmother, whom she infected, died at age 55 of uterine cancer, the youngest of her large family to die so young. She had two children after becoming infected. Her son, my father, had bipolar disease and was so tormented that he committed suicide at age 44. My younger brother committed suicide at the same age.

She had another child with a different man. This son also had mental problems and died at the age of 30. Both of her children had a classic symptom of congenital syphilis, soft teeth. They both had dentures when they were teenagers.

I am the eldest of five. Each of us has medical problems that I blame on second generation syphilis mutations, my grandfather was diagnosed with myalgia on his discharge papers. I have the modern version, now called restless leg syndrome. I have nieces and nephews with the same affliction.

Some current research shows that it is a neurological condition, but we still don’t know what causes it. Some cases may have a genetic cause, but to date this has not been confirmed or studied.

My sister, Lorry, was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in 1937 as the youngest case on record at that time. Today it is called Stills disease. She had several outbreaks and died at age 61 crippled by her disease.

A brother, Ken, was born in 1939, had congenital Bright’s disease, a kidney abnormality, and later underwent surgery to alleviate his symptoms.

Another sister Susan, 1942 was diagnosed with the blood disease -Porphyria she died at age 52.

While each of us had different diseases. I think they were all congenital and caused lifelong medical problems. None were attributed to our Grandfather’s syphilis, because until recently we didn’t know. Current research had also not explored or determined a connection to fraternal congenital syphilis.

In 2018 I got an extensive DNA report from Tell MeGen in Valencia, Spain, the results were remarkable. On the first page, marked in bright red, it said that he had the highest risk of restless legs syndrome. It returned risk factors in another 350 problems and compared my risk factors to my average risk and all average risks. I have an 80.95% risk of restless leg syndrome. Other revealed risk factors were significant and true.

The documentation was a validation of my suspicions. That we had all inherited mutated DNA or RNA from our father and from his father. Although it manifested itself differently in each of us.

Discussion:

Sexually transmitted infection caused by Treponema pallidum Treponema subspecies pallidum. The signs and symptoms of syphilis vary depending on which of the four stages is present (primary, secondary, latent, and tertiary). The primary stage classically presents with a sore called a canker. small hard sore on a man’s penis that is usually treated with mercury ointment. When a woman was infected, she may not realize it and may have mild flu-like symptoms. Syphilis is known as the great imitator, as it can cause symptoms similar to many other diseases. .

Syphilis is most commonly spread through sexual activity. Diagnosis is usually made by blood tests. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that all pregnant women be tested.

In 2015, about 45 million people became infected with syphilis, with six million new cases. During 2015, it caused some 107,000 deaths, up from 202,000 in 1990.
After falling dramatically with the availability of penicillin in the 1940s, infection rates have increased since the turn of the millennium in many countries, often in combination with HIV (human immunodeficiency virus). This is believed to be partly due to increased promiscuity, prostitution, decreased condom use, and unsafe sexual practices between partners.

Congenital syphilis is that which is transmitted during pregnancy or during childbirth. It is commonly believed that two thirds of syphilitic babies are born without obvious symptoms. Commonly identified symptoms that develop during the first two years of life are hepatosplenomegaly enlarged liver and spleen (70%), rash (70%), fever (40%), neurosyphilis (20%) pneumonitis lung inflammation (20%) ) .

Many foods and illnesses have unknown causes, limiting specific treatment. I propose that many have familial etiology of non-curable sexually transmitted diseases such as syphilis. I would like scientists to develop tests to determine a genetic code and history of such diseases and a treatment to prevent subsequent generations from being affected by the treponema bacteria or its effect on future generations.

Most people will never be lucky enough to have documentation of syphilis. Therefore, we must rely on another means for such identification. It could make a huge scientific contribution towards prevention and a better quality of life if a gene or genes related to syphilis were identified.