I've been doing a little research on Syphilis and world leaders and have notice some pretty astonishing things. 1. Caesar was exhibiting strange symptoms before he was assassinated, the symptoms line up with Syphilis to a T. 2. Caligula developed these same symptoms, he was a generous leader in his beginnings but became made. A late stage symptom of Syphilis. (Reports also include decaying flesh around the facial structure) 3. Hitler suffered from Syphilis. This pattern continues from 700BC-1945, an astounding amount of world leaders have fallen victim to this disease, why?
It would be an interesting way to sabotage a regime, and probably not too awful hard to accomplish for folks with the right motivations and connections.
Because in 1945, penicillin was developed and began to be used as a treatment for the disease. Before then, no treatment meant it spread more widely.
Best evidence suggests syphilis was brought to Europe from the New World so it seems unlikely either of the ancient Roman leaders you mention had it. It'd be difficult to diagnose and differentiate from a number of other conditions on the basis of the limited information available. To demonstrate that an "astounding" number of world leaders contracted it, you'd need to provide some details and statistics relating to it's general prevalence in the relevant times and places. It'd be easy to fall for confirmation bias if you're just looking at a list of leaders who (purportedly) did.
