Syphilis Survey of Students Rapped as Incorrect by Bock

Grave doubts were cast yesterday on the accuracy of a recent survey revealing that two out of every 1000 American undergraduates are infected with syphilis by Arlie V. Bock, Henry K. Oliver Professor of Hygiene, and by a prominent Boston authority on syphilis.

In the course of the American Social Hygiene Association survey, 78,388 students in 500 college were tested.

Dr. Bock pointed out that on the average only one case of syphilis out a University enrollment of over 8,000 comes to the attention of the Hygiene Department here each year. He estimates that not more than two other cases occur annually which are not reported to him.

The discrepancy between this figure and the much higher Hygiene Association finding, he attributes not to the superior purity or resistance of Harvard men, but to probable inaccuracy in the testing program.

A certain number of Wasserman tests result in positive reactions even where syphilis is not present, he explained, and the only way of distinguishing between true and spurious reactions is to test the whole immediate family of the patient, a procedure which was not followed in this survey.

A Boston authority on syphilis, who requested that his name be withheld since he is an employees of the U.S. Public Health Service which released the syphilis survey, stated that the average number of false reactions with the standard blood test, is 2 per 1000, a factor of error which would completely invalidate the American Social Hygiene Association's findings.

Concerning the Association's recommendation that all college student be tested Dr. Bock stated that because of bringing the whole family of each positive reactor into the picture, he believes that such a program is neither advisable nor necessary.