[The German Society for Control of Sexually Transmitted Diseases (DGBG/GBGK) 1945-1984].

The Deutsche Gesellschaft zur Bekämpfung der Geschlechtskrankheiten (German Society for Control of Sexually Transmitted Diseases) was founded in 1902. After World War II, many regional groups existed. The drafting of the Gesetz zur Bekämpfung der Geschlechtskrankheiten (Laws regarding Control of Sexually Transmitted Diseases), public education regarding the increasing rates of STDs, continuing medical education especially regarding the use of penicillin in syphilis and gonorrhea, and the major scientific advances in this field stimulated the re-formation of a national organization. Members of the new organization were important in the development of more sophisticated tests for syphilis in the 1960s, for the decrease in incidence of gonorrhea in the 1970s, and for advances in the diagnosis and treatment of mycoplasma, Chlamydia trachomatis, herpes genitalis and human papilloma viruses. This new information was also disseminated via a variety of continuing medical education activities. The hopes of the general public and physicians that such therapeutic advances would make scientific research in the area of STDs unattractive or even unnecessary proved to be overly optimistic. The worldwide epidemic of HIV/AIDS confronted the society with a new major challenge in the early 1980s.