Congenital syphilis in the past: slaves at Newton Plantation, Barbados, West Indies.

ABSTRACT

PIP: 2 anthropologists examined the teeth of 104 slaves buried between 1660 and 1820 who had worked on Newton Plantation in Barbados, West Indies, and were excavated between 1971 and 1973 to look for obvious evidence of congenital syphilis. 84 bodies still possessed either incisors or first molars in good enough shape for the anthropologists to examine. 3 young adult or adolescent slaves had dental lesions indicating congenital syphilis (Hutchinson's incisors and/or Moon's molars). These 3 cases had a frequency of all hypoplasias 3 times that of the remaining slaves and a frequency of 7.5 times of pitting hypoplasia. The frequency of congenital syphilis was at least 3%. Literature data indicate that congenital syphilis features are evident in 33% of cases; therefore, the frequency of congenital syphilis at birth was likely to be around 10%. None of the cases were less than 5 years old. Further, wear and cavity-related tooth loss eliminated evidence of congenital syphilis in people at least 30 years old. The anthropologists gathered that syphilis was responsible for sizeable illness, infant deaths, and infertility among these slaves. They also reviewed 3 dental studies of 3 US African American cemeteries. The individuals in 2 cemeteries had no evidence of congenital syphilis and were in relatively good health, while individuals from the postslavery period had evidence of congenital syphilis (5%). The researchers suggested that presence of absence of congenital syphilis may explain much of the variance in mortality and health noted among 19th century African American populations.