Accentuate the Negative

The classic plea of public health officials for treatment of venereal disease is "bring it out in the open." Oklahoma City, which the Army once described as "the worst venereal disease reservoir in the Southwest," responded so warmly that the health officials were slightly aghast. Once the kiddies were safely tucked in bed, radio used the word syphilis out loud; tear sheets on downtown lamp posts extolled the penicillin treatment; a Unitarian minister opened his chapel as a blood-testing station after the regular Sunday service.

This circus approach attracted the crowds. At the end of 13 days, 10,800 volunteers had been tested. The infection rate, which showed an alarming 12% for the first three days, had dwindled to 2.5%.*

A single hip injection of 300,000 units of penicillin in beeswax and peanut oil was enough to send gonorrhea patients packing. Syphilitics got a free, ten-day penicillin treatment at Will Rogers Field base hospital. A concerted effort would be made to trace people who are sources of infection and persuade them to take treatment.

Said Dr. John A. Cowan, U.S. Public Health expert lent to the state for the campaign: "We have no concern with Oklahoma's morals. . . . We talk about [syphilis and gonorrhea] as though they were measles and whooping cough. . . . We want people to think about them in the same way."

* Total known V.D. cases in New York City in 1945: .4% of the population.

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