Venereal Diseases in Mexico

Abstract

NOTEWORTHY PROGRESS in the control of venereal diseases in Mexico is indicated by the extensive data collected by the Mexican Ministry of Public Health. The nmortality and morbidity rates of syphilis and gonorrhea show a steady decline (tables 1 and 2). This decline, considered by itself, lhas given rise to the belief among some public health workers and members of the medical profession that syphilis and other venereal diseases have been or will be defeated soon simply by the passage of time and the application of present treatment. These optimists do not take into account the fact.ors which cause the decline in the rates to appear greater than it really is. Unjustified optimism is detrimental to progress in control. It encourages a leveling off and even a drop in effort which will resuilt in a future increase in the incidence of the diseases. Although the incidence of venereal diseases has abated in some parts of Mexico, these diseases still constitute a public health menace in some communities. Fortunately, the recenit establishment and improvement of well-staffed and well-equipped health centers should contribute to the reduction of venereal diseases. Death notifications submitted by private physicians constitute a major part of the Ministry's data on mortality. In some cases the physicians consider it in the interest of their patients' families to change the cause of death from syphilis to some other cause. This means that the real syphilis mortality rates are not as low as the registered ones. But since this practice by private physicians has prevailed consistently over the years, the indicated decline in syphilis mortality is a real one (table 1). Among the 10 leading transmissible diseases reported to the Ministry of Health during 1960, syphilis occupies fifth place, and gonorrhiea, eighth. If account is taken of the fact that physicians omit reporting of venereal disease cases to a greater degree than other transmissible diseases, it is possible that these two diseases may rank even higher. The statistical data available on venereal diseases are obtained largely from the field services of the Ministry of Health, located in communities where approximately 55 percent of the total population resides. Although these statistics come from the same source, are less subject to adventitious fa.ctors, and are considered to be the most adequate for comparison, they do not reflect the true incidence of these diseases even in the communities represented, since the field services are not used by all the inhabitants.