BOLU SANCAĞINDA FRENGİ (1912-1918)
SYPHILIS IN BOLU SANJAK (1912-1918)

Summary/Abstract: Syphilis, which is a venereal disease, was quite common in Bolu sanjak throughout Balkan Wars. The statements of Ahmet Şerif, an author in Tanin newspaper in Bolu, confirm this unfortunate happening. Kastamonu province, Bolu sanjak was screened for the syphilis disease between March and October 1914. The report of Mehmet Suat, the head of the board of health who worked in the field, gives us significant information about the activities of traveler doctors and hospitals during these harsh times. At the end of the medical screening, which included more than 400.000 villagers, kinin and medications were delivered to the villagers, and children were vaccinated against smallpox. On the other hand, thousands of patients with the syphilis disease were cured at hospitals. A regulation to be executed in Kastamonu province and Bolu sanjak was prepared for fighting with syphilis which continued during the First World War. There was a serious increase in the number of patients when the discharged and captive soldiers had come back home, Bolu sanjak. It should be noted that the ignorance of the public about the disease during the Balkan Wars and the First World War was a significant factor that affected the spreading of the disease. The purpose of this article is to analyze the effects of syphilis in Bolu sanjak throughout Balkan Wars, until the end of the First World War (1912-1918), and the precautions of the authorities against the disease.

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