I am getting married later in the year and to do so must get a blood test. What is the purpose of this? What kind of information could the government possibly be looking for? Is this test to ensure that Americans aren’t running around marrying their kin? –Engaged but Confused in Los Angeles
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Venereal disease was one of a handful of maladies (tuberculosis was another) that were deemed to have such horrible public-health consequences that they justified compulsory testing and other drastic measures. According to VD historian Allan Brandt (No Magic Bullet, 1985), a 1901 study claimed that 80 percent of New York City men had been infected with gonorrhea and 5 to 18 percent had syphilis. These numbers were probably exaggerated (then, anyway), but maybe not by much. In 1909 VD afflicted nearly 20 percent of army recruits and accounted for a third of all sick days. In the 1920s 500,000 new cases of syphilis and 700,000 cases of gonorrhea were reported each year. Some experts believed VD was more widespread than all other infectious diseases combined.
During the late 1930s surgeon general Thomas Parran was able to overcome national squeamishness and crank up an anti-VD crusade similar to that surrounding AIDS 50 years later. One result of his efforts was the requirement of premarital VD testing by the states, starting with Connecticut in 1935.
Is there something you need to get straight? Cecil Adams can deliver the Straight Dope on any topic. Write Cecil Adams at the Chicago Reader, 11 E. Illinois, Chicago 60611, or E-mail him at cecil@chireader.com.
