Anatomical and biochemical evidence for Treponema pallidum in a 19th to early twentieth century skeletal cadaver.

This report summarizes findings relating to the biochemical and skeletal evidence for Treponema pallidum in an unusually old case of congenital syphilis. In 1951, the Milwaukee Public Museum acquired skeletal remains from the Surgical School of Marquette University. The male was identified as a 60-65-year-old, that was suffering from congenital syphilis. His remains are now part of the anthropological collections of Wisconsin Lutheran College (Milwaukee, Wisconsin). Venereal Disease Research Laboratory (VDRL) and Rapid Plasma Reagin (RPR) tests were used to verify the presence of the bacteria-generated antibodies, while mass spectrometry testing provided indirect evidence for the historical treatment of the disease. Notably, antibody detection in human remains of this age is rare. These initial results support what is known of syphilis and its treatment prior to the wide scale, clinical use of penicillin therapy, and describe evidence for long-term skeletal symptoms of congenital syphilis in century-old human remains.