Parascandola John
University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.
Bull Hist Med. 2009 Fall;83(3):431-59. doi: 10.1353/bhm.0.0267.
Concern about the infection of servicemen and essential war workers with venereal disease led the U.S. Public Health Service, with the cooperation of state and local health officials, to set up a national program of venereal disease quarantine hospitals during World War II. Although some of the hospitals eventually accepted men, the initial purpose of these facilities was to detain and treat venereally affected prostitutes and "promiscuous women" who were considered a threat to the war effort. Using quarantine powers, officials forcibly detained venereally infected women and treated them for their disease. The hospitals were generally known as "rapid treatment centers" because of the methods employed to treat venereal disease. Health officials were especially concerned that prostitutes (and other women of "loose morals") would not comply with the traditional lengthy and arduous treatment for syphilis, which involved weekly injections of arsenical drugs for a year or more and unpleasant side effects. Therefore, the newly established quarantine hospitals used recently developed rapid treatment methods based on the administration of multiple injections or intravenous drips of arsenicals over a period of days. Although some objections were raised against these policies, which obviously discriminated against women, on the whole the rapid treatment centers were accepted as a necessary measure in the defense of national security. Some of the issues raised by these centers are still relevant to public health policy today.
对军人和重要军工人员感染性病的担忧，促使美国公共卫生服务局在州和地方卫生官员的合作下，于第二次世界大战期间设立了一个全国性的性病隔离医院项目。尽管其中一些医院最终也接收男性，但这些设施的最初目的是拘留和治疗那些被认为对战时工作构成威胁的感染性病的妓女和“行为不检的女性”。官员们利用检疫权力，强行拘留感染性病的女性并对其进行治疗。由于治疗性病所采用的方法，这些医院通常被称为“快速治疗中心”。卫生官员尤其担心妓女（以及其他“道德败坏”的女性）不会遵守传统的、漫长而艰苦的梅毒治疗方法，这种方法需要每周注射砷剂药物，持续一年或更长时间，而且会带来令人不适的副作用。因此，新设立的隔离医院采用了最近开发的快速治疗方法，即在几天内多次注射或静脉滴注砷剂。尽管有人对这些明显歧视女性的政策提出了反对意见，但总体而言，快速治疗中心被视为保卫国家安全的必要措施而被接受。这些中心引发的一些问题在当今的公共卫生政策中仍然具有相关性。
