title: Laryngeal syphilis: a case report.
abstract: Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease caused by the spirochete Treponema pallidum. The complexity of the disease gained it the moniker "the great imitator"; it was William Osler who said, "He who knows syphilis, knows medicine." In 1866, Patrick Watson of Edinburgh, Scotland, reported a case of a 36-year-old man in whom syphilis destroyed the larynx.(1) The diagnosis was made postmortem. It was once believed that this was the first reported total laryngectomy, but the credit should actually be given to Christian Albert Theodor Billroth who performed this surgery on a patient with laryngeal carcinoma in 1873.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Kaplan Medical Center, PO Box 1, Rehovot, 76600 Israel. gillah@clalit.org.il
authors.forename: Gil
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lahav
authors.forename: Yonatan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lahav
authors.forename: Pnina
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ciobotaro
authors.forename: Nadia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ziv
authors.forename: Doron
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Halperin
mesh_terms: D001706:Biopsy; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants; D006801:Humans; D007262:Infusions, Intravenous; D007557:Israel; D007818:Laryngeal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology; D007828:Laryngoscopy; D007971:Leukoplakia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009494:Neurosyphilis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology; D010406:Penicillins / Q000008:administration & dosage; D013587:Syphilis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology; D013588:Syphilis Serodiagnosis; D014586:USSR / Q000208:ethnology; D014827:Vocal Cords / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D010406:Penicillins