CONGENITAL-SYPHILIS IN THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD - DIAGNOSTIC INSENSITIVITY OF OSSEOUS LESIONS

The paucity of convincing evidence for congenital bone lesions of syph ilis in the archaeological record led to study of the human remains fr om the Buffalo site in West Virginia, dated at 550-650 years BP. The d iagnosis of syphilis (venereal) in adults was based on previously vali dated population criteria for the recognition of syphilis and its dist inction from among the other treponemal diseases. Among the 151 juveni les (23.3 per cent of the total series), only one had macroscopic evid ence of periosteal disease. The low frequency of recognizable osseous stigmata characteristic of congenital syphilis, combined with the cons picuous absence of pathognomonic dental lesions, make such periosteal lesions insufficiently sensitive criteria for the identification of sy philis in the archaeological record.