Bejel/Syphilis Project, Saudi Arabia

Includes correspondence, a map of Saudi Arabia, research notes and graphs, proposed plan and aims of the project and several reports written by Cosnka and other authors on bejel and other infectious diseases in the region.

This project was organised by Dr Ibrahim Al-Sowaygh, University of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in collaboration with Dr George Csonka to study endemic non-venereal syphilis (bejel) in Saudi Arabia. The project was set up to fully investigate the geographical distribution and epidemiology of bejel in the region, understand the causality of the disease through clinical investigations and also set out methods to control the disease by implementing a mass treatment plan.

Csonka took part in a similar project in the 1950s as the Chief Medical Adviser on the Bejel/Syphilis Project in Iraq which was organised by the World Health Organisation (See reference number PP/CSO/A/1)