Syphilis control required weekly intrusive genital and mouth inspections of all Egyptian soldiers

Evidence

Compared to scabies, dealing with syphilis presented much more formidable problems. Detecting and treating syphilis necessitated a much closer scrutiny of soldiers’ bodies. The first article of Clot Bey’s Risāla, written specifically for the treatment of syphilis and scabies, went as follows. … On receiving this letter you must conduct an examination of all the men whose health you are required to look after, officers, NCOs and soldiers. Those afflicted with one of those two diseases [i.e. scabies and syphilis] have to be set aside, and particular care has to be given to those afflicted with syphilis. You have to check their genitalia and their mouths. This examination is to be conducted once every week. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 1148

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to surveillance and bodily discipline of soldiers themes; echoes Foucault’s disciplinary power applied to conscript armies.
• QUESTION: Does this weekly genital inspection constitute an early form of systematic military venereal-disease control, and how did soldiers resist it?