Non -Venereal Syphilis And Australia Antigen Among The G/WI And G//Ana San Of The Central Kalahari Reserve, Botswana

Abstract

Endemic syphilis is a disease of rural communities, with a low standard of hygiene, living in dry areas. In these respects it differs from yaws and pinta, the former of which is found only in humid regions, while the latter tends to occur along the banks of rivers. The transmission of all three diseases is by direct skin contact, but whereas yaws and pinta appear to be highly infective and to spread even where the body is washed frequently, endemic syphilis is not universal even among those who, like the people with whom this paper is concerned, hardly ever get the chance to wash and whose unclothed bodies frequently huddle together around the fire.