Sexually transmitted infections in Otago's gold rush era were less common than popular culture books portray, University of Otago – Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka research has found.
The first-of-its-kind study, published in the Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, explored hospital records and newspaper articles from 1864 to 1869 in Otago to reveal the prevalence of syphilis and gonorrhoea infections and societal attitudes about those with them.
Kirsten Rutten
Lead author Kirsten Rutten, PhD candidate in the Department of Anatomy, wanted to explore the topic because of how the period has been depicted in popular culture books and to provide insights into biocultural aspects of the gold rush.
"Despite the severe and often lasting effects on health, there is limited information about sexually transmitted infections in New Zealand's colonial period.
"Popular culture, however, often portrays it as a time with high rates of STIs, especially among prostitutes, but these books lack archival and clinical evidence to support these claims. We found they are not telling the full story as our research suggests these infections were likely less common than portrayed," she says.
The study found syphilis and gonorrhoea infections fluctuated and affected people from a range of demographic backgrounds.
In Dunedin Hospital, 113 men and 47 women were admitted for syphilis, and 84 men and 15 women for gonorrhoea in the five-year period. In Dunstan Hospital, six men were admitted for syphilis and seven men for gonorrhoea.
The overall prevalence of syphilis cases in both hospitals was 4.3 per cent, and gonorrhoea 2.8 per cent (which matches the current day prevalence in the Southern region).
Ms Rutten says the higher number of males admitted may be because segregated wards allocated more beds to men than women, and many women sought treatment in the community.
Males with maritime-related occupations were seen more commonly in Dunedin Hospital, while those with mining-related occupations were seen in Dunstan Hospital.
"The only female occupations recorded in Dunedin Hospital were either prostitute or servant, other occupations may have been considered irrelevant to how they became infected, reflecting a deep-rooted stigma towards women with STIs."
Newspaper reports highlighted this with women's infections linked to vagrancy and prostitution and portraying them as the main cause of sexually transmitted infections. Men were generally spared these character judgements.
Ms Rutten says the research is valuable because it helps plug a knowledge gap.
"There is currently a limited understanding of health during the Otago gold rush, especially regarding the biological and social contexts of sexually transmitted infections. This is particularly true for women during this period, whose experiences were often underrepresented in historical accounts."
She says it also has contemporary relevance, as rates of syphilis and gonorrhoea have risen over the last two decades, particularly in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States.
"What remains consistent across these popular culture books, historical records, and modern society is the associated stigma surrounding STIs, especially regarding women.
"Hopefully, this research will encourage people to reflect on how stigma has shaped both historical accounts and current attitudes."
Publication:
Gold for Cash and an Inflamed Rash: An Archival Study of Syphilis and Gonorrhoea in the Gold Mining Era of Otago, New Zealand
Kirsten A Rutten, Hallie R Buckley, Stephanie J Woodley
Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41798770/
