Short answers, pulled from the story.
Treponema pallidum was the bacterium responsible for more deaths in the United States in 1915 than any other infectious disease. This pathogen caused syphilis, which was historically known as the Great Pox and could strip flesh from a person's face and lead to death within months.
The London Lock Hospital opened its doors in 1746 as the first voluntary hospital dedicated to treating sexually transmitted infections. This institution marked a shift from punishment to care, although social stigma remained a powerful force against the infected.
In 2015, approximately 1.1 billion people worldwide were living with an STI other than HIV. Of those individuals, 500 million carried syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, or trichomoniasis, often without knowing it.
The first well-recorded European outbreak of syphilis occurred in 1494 among French troops besieging Naples during the Italian War of 1494, 98. The initial outbreak killed more than five million people and spread across Europe with terrifying speed before evolving into the form recognized by 1546.
The World Health Organization has recommended the term sexually transmitted infection since 1999 to reflect the reality that many people carry these infections without symptoms. This change acknowledges the silent reservoir of transmission that has persisted for millennia.
There were 19 million new cases of sexually transmitted infections in the United States in 2010. This statistic highlights the vulnerability of young people, as 25 to 40 percent of teenage girls were carrying an infection.