Open AccessSyphilis and psychiatry at the Mysore Government Mental Hospital (NIMHANS) in the early 20thcentury
Author(s) -
Sarah Ghani,
Pratima Murthy,
Sanjeev Jain,
Alok Sarin
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
indian journal of psychiatry/indian journal of psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.485
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 1998-3794
pISSN - 0019-5545
DOI - 10.4103/psychiatry.indianjpsychiatry_449_17
Subject(s) - syphilis , government (linguistics) , psychiatry , medicine , family medicine , philosophy , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , linguistics
Prior to the advent of the Wasserman Test as a diagnostic tool for Syphilis, the identification rate for Syphilis at the Mysore Government Mental Hospital in Southern India was 1%. With the introduction of the test, there was a dramatic increase in the diagnosis of Syphilis, with 17% of the patients testing positive. This paper throws light on the early notions of Syphilis and GPI, societal responses to the disease, early misdiagnosis, the advent of the Wasserman test and treatment management as reflected in the records of the early 20th century at the Mysore Government Mental Hospital (currently known as NIMHANS).