BOSTON, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- A Boston physician is suggesting that Shakespeare's apparent familiarity with sexually transmitted diseases may indicate he had such ailments.
Dr. John Ross of Caritas St. Elizabeth's Medical Center in Boston, in an article in the Feb. 1 issue of the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, notes that Shakespeare alluded to sexually transmitted disease, or STD, symptoms and treatments in several of his plays and poems.
For example, he mentions the "pox," the "malady of France," the "infinite malady" and the "hoar leprosy" in his writings.
"Shakespeare's knowledge of syphilis is clinically precise," said Ross, pointing out that a line in Sonnet 154, "Love's fire heats water," apparently refers to an STD causing burning urination.
Ross, an infectious disease specialist, further suggests Shakespeare's tremulous signature on his will, his social withdrawal in later years, and even his baldness might all be due to a mild degree of mercury vapor poisoning, a common treatment for STDs.
