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  #21  
Old 06-08-19, 17:55
maggie_4_7
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Originally Posted by Ann from Sussex View Post
When Martin Freeman was the WDYTYA subject they found that one of his ancestors had infected his wife and several of his children with syphilis. The thing that gave them the clue initially was the sequence of the children's births and deaths and the fact that one of the survivors was blind. They had an expert in the effects of the disease on the programme. It was several years ago and I can't remember the exact details but I think it was something along the lines that in large families the earliest born children are more likely to have congenital syphilis but survive, often with disability like blindness, the middle born children have it and are more likely to die in infancy whilst the later ones are born free of the disease. I took notice because I have a family in the early 1800s with exactly that pattern, including one who was blind. It was very interesting.

So perhaps the later stages of the disease isn't quite as infectious and isn't as easily passed on to the children! REB's father died quite soon after he was born.

Last edited by maggie_4_7; 06-08-19 at 18:00.
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  #22  
Old 06-08-19, 18:35
Olde Crone Olde Crone is offline
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Isn't it the fact that the disease lies dormant in the spinal cord (?) for 20 years or more after the initial years of infectiousness and then makes its way up the spinal cord to the brain, causing general paralysis? So it wouldn't be infectious in the later years.

OC
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  #23  
Old 06-08-19, 21:54
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Ann from Sussex Ann from Sussex is offline
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http://www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazi...martin-freeman

Here's a link to the magazine synopsis of the Martin Freeman programme. Without going into the exact details it does mention the distinctive pattern of death for children with congenital syphilis. What I hadn't remembered and what has shocked me now is that 100 years ago 10% of the population were infected with it.
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