title: [The struggle against venereal disease in Łódź at the turn of the 19th century].
abstract: At the turn of the 19th century in Łódź - with its poor sanitary conditions - venereal diseases (including the most dangerous, syphilis) were amongst the infectious and social diseases which were a great danger to the health and life of its inhabitants. Prostitution, which was a source of income for low-paid or unemployed women, contributed in great measure to the spread of infection. Bad housing conditions, abuse of alcohol, unawareness of danger and carelessness of treatment were also conducive to venereal diseases. The State authorities, who were obliged to struggle against venereal diseases, did so by repressive and humiliating police methods and by the introduction of controls in 1894 involving the registration and compulsory medical examination of prostitutes. Considering the lack of compulsion (except for prostitutes), venereal patients were hospitalized on a limited scale in only the general, specialist and constantly overcrowded Szpital Sw. Aleksandra (St. Alexander Hospital) - the prostitutes at their own expense and the poor at the expense of the municipality. The rich underwent treatment discreetly, in the surgeries and infirmaries of privately practising doctors. The lasting danger of venereal diseases prompted initiatives by doctors- philanthropists, members of Łódzkie Towarzystwo Lekarskie (the Medical Society of Łódź) and the local branch of Warszawskie Towarzystwo Higieniczne (the Hygienic Society of Warsaw). By their lectures, brochures and articles in medical periodicals they popularized their views on the causes; prevention and the struggle against venereal diseases. They were critical of the police and medical surveillance and the struggle against prostitution amongst juvenile girls and recommended the introduction of public, cost - free and obligatory treatment of the sick.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Berner
mesh_terms: D003140:Communicable Disease Control / Q000266:history*; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D011044:Poland; D012749:Sexually Transmitted Diseases / Q000266:history*; D012936:Social Medicine / Q000266:history*
vernacular_title: Zwalczanie chorób wenerycznych w Łodzi na przełomie XIX I XX wieku.