1920's Medicine and Health | "The Kahn Test for Syphilis in the Public Health Laboratory"

Journal article

By: C.C. Young

Date: February 1923

Source: Young, C.C. "The Kahn Test for Syphilis in the Public Health Laboratory." The American Journal of Public Health 13, no. 2 (February 1923): 96–99.

About the Scientist: Reuben L. Kahn (1887–1974) is most famous for simplifying the Wassermann test for syphilis in 1923. In the 1950s, however, he also developed the universal serological reaction, and his work in immunology was highly respected.

Introduction

An extremely virulent strain of syphilis rampaged across Europe around 1500. Each nation had a different name for it, and most labeled it with the name of their enemy; the French, for instance, called it the Spanish disease. By 1550 the symptoms and progression of syphilis were very similar to today's disease. Treatment, though, was not soon in coming. The only possible cure was mercury, but this...