Throughout the centuries, while the origins continue to be debated to this day, the strength and potency of the disease have rarely been questioned. Syphilis, although not seen as a huge threat due to the decreasing number of cases in the mid to late 1990s, needs to be taken more seriously by the public because it is more dangerous than many believe, especially since it is extremely contagious, it is extremely elegant in the symptoms it produces, it has played a bigger role in history than many would think, and there is a certain stigma surrounding the disease, which in turn turns people away from receiving the necessary tests. There is little at face value that would alert an educated individual to the severity and danger of syphilis: the bacterium that causes syphilis, Treponema pallidum, appears as nothing more than a simple bacterium. The bacterium is spiral-shaped and is classified as Gram negative (which means the bacterium lacks a thick layer of peptidoglycan in its cell wall). Syphilis infects its victims in a limited number of ways: the most common way, however, is through entry through irritated, cracked skin and through mucous membranes. For this reason, syphilis is transmitted so effectively through sexual contact and sexual activity that it is primarily known as a sexually transmitted infection (STI). However, syphilis is not only limited to the above-mentioned means of transportation. The disease is actually transmitted even through blood transfusions, not to mention the transmission of syphilis from mother to child in the womb during pregnancy (CDC 2007). The history of syphilis itself is intricate and shrouded in the history of other diseases, movements and sciences. A...... middle of paper......98560903295709McGough, L. (2010). Gender, sexuality and syphilis in early modern Venice: the disease that remained. Basingstoke [England]; New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010. Kershaw, S. (12 August 2007). Syphilis cases on the rise in New York City. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/12/nyregion/12syphilis.htmlMcNeil, D. (September 14, 2011). Errors of American leaders found in syphilis tests. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/14/health/14syphilis.htmlKent ME, Romanelli F (February 2008). “Reexamining syphilis: an update on epidemiology, clinical manifestations, and management.” Ann Pharmacother 42(2):226–36. doi:10.1345/aph.1K086U.S. National Library of Medicine. (September 15, 2010). Neurosyphilis. PubMed Health. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001722