Similarities of psychiatric disorders of AIDS and syphilis: history repeats itself.

There are marked similarities in the psychiatric disorders associated with autoimmune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and syphilis (paresis). Although depression is most common, the psychiatric disorders in both conditions include the entire range of clinical syndromes that can simulate any type of mental disorder, functional or organic. The underlying neuropathology and methods of transmission are also similar. The author also notes that the social and moral attitudes toward patients with AIDS and syphilis are alike, including moral and religious prohibitions against the use of condoms.