lues
- n a common venereal disease caused by the treponema pallidum spirochete; symptoms change through progressive stages; can be congenital (transmitted through the placenta)
- A hundred years ago or so this saying was true: "Who knows lues (or syphilis) knows medicine.
- The German doctor Paul Ehrlich imagined their theory in the 1880's, applied chemical knowledge and after 20 years invented salvarsan, specific against lues.