unborn child. This is why we have premarital and prenatal laws providing for blood tests before marriage and during pregnancy. There is no protection for the single man "built into" the law.

Q. What are the symptoms of venereal disease?

A. There are five separate venereal diseases, no two of which are alike, nor does one venereal disease "turn into" another. Two venereal diseases

are

most prevalent — syphilis and gonorrhea. Syphilis affects men and women very much the same way and medically has four stages. Usually the syphilis germ enters the body through the skin in or around the sex organs, the rectum, or the mouth. The "primary stage" or the first signs of syphilis is a "sore" called a chancre (pronounced "shanker"). This "sore" most frequently does not hurt, making "sore" an inappropriate word. If the chancre is seen, it usually shows up two to twelve weeks after the person has caught the disease at the site where the germ enters the body. Many times the chancre does not appear at all or it may be so small that it goes unnoticed. It may be hidden inside the rectum, the vagina or the mouth where it cannot be readily seen or even felt since it is painless. The chancre may look like a pimple, a blister or an open sore. This is full of syphilis germs, permitting the disease to be passed along very easily. The person with such a "sore" is dangerous to others exposed.

Soon after the appearance of the chancre, the germs begin to spread through the body and the blood "Wasserman" test starts to become positive. After a couple of weeks, the chancre disappears, even without treatment, but this does not mean that syphilis has also disappeared. The germs are merely hiding inside the body and increasing in number through the whole body. From two

one

to six months after the person catches syphilis, the rash of the "secondary stage" may show up. This rash may look like a heat rash, the hives or measles. It may cover the body, or may be just on the hands and feet. It may appear in the mouth, or at the rectum. Since the rash also contains syphilis germs, the disease can be spread in this stage by intimate contact such as kissing. Like the first chancre or syphilis, the secondary rash will disappear in a week or more without any treatment. It is important to know that only one person in four will develop the secondary rash of syphilis.

In the majority of syphilis cases, the chancre is not found and rash does not occur. So the disease goes undetected, except for blood tests, and yet has established itself inside the body. If not treated within two to twenty years, syphilis may begin to attack the heart, brain and spinal cord (the late or "tertiary stage"). Until these signs occur, syphilis has no symptoms and is said to be quiet or in the "latent stage". During this latent period, a person may feel fine and go along for years thinking he is healthy. But sooner or later he may become blind, insane or crippled, or he may develop heart trouble. Even in the later stages of syphilis, treatment will usually arrest the disease, but any damage to the body is not repaired-merely the progress stopped or slowed.

The symptoms of gonorrhea depend upon the parts of the body involved. Gonorrhea of the penis usually starts with a burning pain on urination and a "tear drop" of pus from the penis. This usually occurs 2 to 10 days after intercourse with an infected person and most times is relatively easy to detect and diagnose.

On the other hand, gonorrhea of the rectum and gonorrhea of the woman's reproductive organs usually have symptoms until several