University of Wisconsin Milwaukee UWM Digital Commons Theses and Dissertations December 2015 Distinguishing Venereal Syphilis from Other Treponemal Infections on the Human Skeleton Antoinette Elizabeth Fafara-Thompson University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.uwm.edu/etd Part of the Biological and Physical Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Fafara-Thompson, Antoinette Elizabeth, "Distinguishing Venereal Syphilis from Other Treponemal Infections on the Human Skeleton" (2015). Theses and Dissertations. 1030. https://dc.uwm.edu/etd/1030 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by UWM Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UWM Digital Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. DISTINGUISHING VENEREAL SYPHILIS FROM OTHER TREPONEMAL INFECTIONS ON THE HUMAN SKELETON by Antoinette E. Fafara-Thompson A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Anthropology at The University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee December 2015 ! DISTINGUISHING VENEREAL SYPHILIS FROM OTHER TREPONEMAL INFECTIONS ON THE HUMAN SKELETON by Antoinette E. Fafara-Thompson The University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, 2015 Under the Supervision of Professor Fred Anapol The Treponemal diseases of yaws, endemic and venereal syphilis are capable of producing skeletal lesions during the late stages of infection. Due to the relatedness within the Treponema species all three diseases produce similar skeletal pathologies, making the classification of one specific treponemal disease versus another extremely difficult. This study investigates the skeletal pathologies associated with the treponemal infections of yaws, endemic and venereal syphilis in order to determine the skeletal lesions limited to only venereal syphilis.