Modern Syphilis.

Phases of the Disease.

Detection and Early Treatment.

Early Tests.

The KahnTest.

It was widely recognized in the 1920s that the Wassermann test needed standardizing in order to enhance its diagnostic value. Several other tests were developed during this time, but none proved to be more effective than the Wassermann test until Reuben Leon Kahn introduced his method in 1923. The Kahn test evolved in the laboratories of the Michigan Department of Health and was simpler, faster, and more sensitive than any other available method of detecting syphilis. By 1925 this test was routinely used by the United States Navy and soon after was utilized around the world.

Sources:

Kenneth F. Kiple, ed., The Cambridge World History of Human Disease (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993), pp. 1025-1033;

Claude Puetel, History of Syphilis (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992);

C. C. Young, "The Kahn Test For Syphilis...