Syphilis Skyrockets In U.S.

Up 12% Among Gay/Bisexual Men; 7th-Straight Year Of Increases After Being Nearly Eliminated

(WebMD)  A raging epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases in gay/bisexual men drove U.S. syphilis rates up 12 percent in 2007 - the seventh-consecutive year of syphilis increases.

Meanwhile, a CDC study found that tests for another common STD -gonorrhea - miss one in three infections among men who have sex with men.

Those findings alone are troubling enough. But the picture becomes bleaker against the background of a surging HIV epidemic.

"This increase in syphilis represents a major concern for the health of gay and bisexual men," Kevin Fenton, M.D., director of the CDC's HIV/AIDS center, said at a news conference. "STDs increase HIV transmission. And if a person is already HIV infected, syphilis can increase viral load [a measure of HIV activity in the body]."

Fenton announced the new STD data at this week's National STD Prevention Conference in Chicago.

Syphilis Surges Again

The syphilis numbers are shocking because just a decade ago, the U.S. was on the verge of eliminating the disease. Now 3.7 out of every 100,000 Americans - and 6.4 out of every 100,000 American males - carry the infection, which can cause blindness, brain damage, and death if untreated.

Rates among men are six times higher than rates among women. This, Fenton said, is largely because of huge increases in syphilis infections among men who have sex with men. About 60 percent of all recent U.S. syphilis infections occurred in these men.

African-Americans continue to be disproportionately affected by syphilis. Syphilis rates are six times higher for African-American men than among white men, and 13 times higher for African-American women than for white women.

Gonorrhea Test Misses Gay/Bi Men

Syphilis and HIV aren't the only diseases spread mainly by unsafe sex. Gonorrhea is also on the rise. One factor, a CDC study suggests, is that doctors miss more than one in three gonorrhea infections in HIV negative gay and bisexual men.

The problem seems to be that doctors aren't testing men who have sex with men in all three body sites where they are likely to be infected: the penis (urethra), the rectum, and the throat.

CDC researcher Kristen C. Mahle, M.P.H., and colleagues found that doctors miss more than one in three rectal gonorrhea infections, one in four throat infections, and one in 10 urethral infections in men who have sex with men.

Part of the problem is that the most effective tests for gonorrhea are nucleic acid amplification tests or NAATs. These tests are FDA approved for testing for gonorrhea infections in the urethra. But they are not approved for testing the throat or rectum.

Julius Schachter, Ph.D., of the University of California, San Francisco, reported to the conference that NAAT tests work very well in screening men's throats and rectums for gonorrhea and for chlamydia.

John Douglas, M.D., director of the CDC's STD center, said the CDC would work with the FDA to gain approval of expanded use of NAATs.

"NAATs detect twice as many gonorrhea and chlamydia infections as bacterial culture tests," Douglas said at the news conference. "FDA clearance of NAATs would allow for their widespread use in medical settings."

[mudrose-2009]

Yes, G/ayMarriage is the way to go. It''ll keep them barefoot, under the table and monogamous.

[randynason]

Forgive me if I''m wrong (which I''m not) but wasn''t it the evangelical fundamentalists who didn''t want *** education taught? They believed, instead, that man (made-in-God''s-image) and woman would be better off practicing and promoting abstinence. Thank you, oh mighty naive, nonsensical ones.

[joyous88]

The faith based bribe, bought the mindless christian vote;

that mindless vote begot GW Bush and his faith based initiative;

which begot abstinance only *** education, thanks to
our evangelical morons at the christian church;

and now we have America, the evangelical AmeriKa;

we have STDs rampant, underage pregnancy rampant,

the economy out of control and wars that never end; and starting more wars that never end; to please the greed driven republiCOPN Fascist party,

all the money paid to these christians was borrowed from the godless chinese communist government

thanks a lot republiCON evangelical fascists


you all belong in prison

[hypnotoad72]

Yes, G/ayMarriage is the way to go. It''''ll keep them barefoot, under the table and monogamous.

Posted by mudrose
--------------

It will? I recall reading a local glbt magazine a few years ago; the article, written by a g man, not asking when they would get the rights, but if they were "ready" for them. If a hetero man wrote it, you could imagine all the slurs of "HOMOPHOBIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!" that would come down as a result...

Doesn''t matter if I post even the magazine title, there are typically two types of responses.

[mudrose-2009]

Well, the APA says that this is acceptable. Maybe they can all kill themselves based on the APA report. This way, we can weave more quilts.

[rohink-2009]

Of course it is the Republican/Christians fault. Ever since Bush got into office he has personally banned all s*x education. We aren''t allowed to educate our youth. Condoms have been banned. All these poor uninformed people having casual, unprotected s*x. Thank God the Democrats will be taking over in January.

[rohink-2009]

You would think that after 30 plus years of teaching s*x education that we would all be enlightened and STD''s would be a thing of the past.
Boy, those freakangelicals must be awfully powerful. They have banned the word s e x from CBS posts.

[newsnut123]

Correct me if I''m wrong,(which I''m not) but isn''t it our jobs as parents to teach our kids about *** whether it be abstinence or safe ***? Stop blaming the government for failing to do OUR jobs as parents!

[joyous88]

we can not even write the word s**x on here;

and you republicons think everything is just fine;

how can you teach kids to protect themselves from bad

S**X

when the evangelicals and the fascist republicons censore everything into their christian cesspool

[newsnut123]

Simple....you teach them at home yourself. The schools are not there to teach those things... get over it. What does that have to do with Christianity or our government? nothing

[mbcsmith]

The AMA has announced that syphilis will now be known as Spitzerilis.

[ringading3]

*** killing and infecting themselves, what is the problem? Next subject..

[ringading3]

Haha CBS does not permit the word g a y, so it is censored.

[caliengineer]

joyous88,

The Christians are not filtering information. The humanists are doing that! If the Christians had been allowed to teach purity (a form of self respect), the STD epidemic would not be what it is. Instead, the religion of humanism has crept in by deception, loud repetitious proclamations and treachery.

It is the humanist Hersh family which owns the text book companies and removed all references to family, mother, father etc 6 years ago.

They are promoting the NWO. And you, in your own foolish way, are helping them. You are what the hippies call a "tool".

[rohink-2009]

Joyous88 and RandyNason, whether or not abstinence only was the only thing taught in schools, which it wasn''t, what about parents teaching their children. What about all the progressive and enlightened out there? Aren''t they teaching their children? Or, are they sitting there with hands tied behind their backs (so to speak)? There will always be STD''s and unwanted pregnancies when people engage in casual, unprotected s e x.

[dirtyduzzin]

The entertainment business is a vital ingredient in this societal soup. They should be censored more strongly. So suggestive if not outright blatant. Kids know more about *** now than the adults.

[geecee827]

Not one of you who posted here make any sense whatsoever. The fact that serious STDs are becoming more and more prevalent, i.e. spreading--isn''t the fault of religious zealots, or of the government, or lack of *** education, or teaching abstinence or not, or anything else. It''s the fault of the individual person himself, who makes a choice to have unprotected *** with another man or woman; and the fault of the average, ordinary, disgusting human piece of trash, who is so gross as to stick it in anything that moves. Oh, and the woman or gay guy who allows them to! Sorry to be so judgmental, but does anyone really care if these people get very sick and die? It''s their free will, isn''t it?

[johnstossel]

Jesus saith: this is a modern-day Noah''s Ark.

There does seem to be a fairly close correlation in the trend lines between the rise and fall of the rates of STD''s and the rise fall of religious power and influence in our culture.

[house015]

I cannot believe the sh** people just throw out about the President that is complete fabrication. Bush didn''t outlaw any s** education, he simply has a different religious view of the situation as a person. Also, unless everyone catching STDs is under the age of 22, they got educated under President Clinton. None of this has anything to do with religion or television, anyways, it''s all free will being exercised BADLY. People want all the fun without the responsibility, and without having to even consider the possible consequences ahead of their hook-up. Stop being squeamish about it or pretending it''s some magical event or an expression of personal freedom, just face the facts about Tab A fitting into Slot A, B or C.

Bush didn''''t outlaw any s** education, he simply has a different religious view of the situation as a person.
Posted by house015
------------------
And that is NOT s e x education. It is religious indoctrination!!

[denn034]

Yet, the liberals and moderates masquerading as conservatives insist upon promoting the gay lifestyle and killing more gay persons. This seems like a good place to back away from my support for openly gay persons in the military as well. In the end, that openly gay Sergeant''s presence in our unit in Desert Storm violated the UCMJ and he should''ve never been allowed to serve. Like it or not, gay people are in danger in the military, a fact that must be acknowledged given the sizeable white supremacist presence in the active military.

[excoachken]

Bush thinks the best *** education is no education at all. After all it worked for him, back when they had a "no rich moron left behind" policy at private boarding school.

[denn034]

"Bush thinks the best *** education is no education at all. After all it worked for him, back when they had a "no rich moron left behind" policy at private boarding school. "
Posted by exCoachKen

This couldn''t be more untrue. Bush could easily terminate the pro-homosexual *** and abstinence education by threatening to withdraw federal funding from the Department of Education and the NEA but, he doesn''t do it. Furthermore, the SEICUS *** ed manual was commissioned by the CDC that is a part of Health and Human Services that former Utah Governor Mike Leavitt presides over under Bush and Bush could easily order Leavitt to withdraw it as well. Bush could do either and doesn''t. This is one of the things I hold against Bush as well as his having openly gay people serving in his administration.

[denn034]

Let register my complaint over cbsnews.com not letting us use the word $ex but, they can use it all they want. The double standard is so thick you can cut it with a knife. Come on now, cbsnews.com!

[prairiefox1]

MOM ALWAYS TOLD US TO BE CAREFUL WHAT WE PUT IN OUR BODIES!
BUT PARENTS COULD CARE LESS ABOUT RAISING THEIR CHILDREN AND YOU CAN SEE THE RESULTS TODAY!

[robstrck]

I remember a phrase that was really popular in the 60''s, "If it feels good, do it".

[zootallures2]

I knew it had to be something more than just Floride in the water.

[zootallures2]

It certainly explains neo-cons, mass shootings, and the rise in sadi*sm. Hitler had Syphilis.

[pcouch6996]

I am not surprised to see that this health issue is once again making headlines...Gay and bi sexual men hate to use protection and when that happens you have major problems!! As a gay man(54 years old)I will never have *** with anyone that does not use protection and even then that is not a guarentee that you won''t come down with something!! The best way is to not have ***...I have not for over 5 years and I am doing just fine...Paul

[zootallures2]

I am not surprised to see that this health issue is once again making headlines...Gay and bi sexual men hate to use protection and when that happens you have major problems!! As a gay man(54 years old)I will never have *** with anyone that does not use protection and even then that is not a guarentee that you won''''t come down with something!! The best way is to not have ***...I have not for over 5 years and I am doing just fine...Paul

Posted by pcouch6996 at 06:45 PM : Mar 13, 2008

Well, hi, Paul *tsa*, sounds like a long time *tsa* since your couch spings played the boxed set of Culture Cub *tsa*. Ice cream truck full of Jim Dandies melting and going to waste *tsa*. You need some warm pink slithering taste buds to heat up your snow cones. *tsa* Someone to keep your sundae m&m''s from melting in you hand. *tsa* - Barney Frank lets pass some laws together.

[jankebenz]

Well,whadya know,more proof that homosexuality is unhealthy and all around bad for you. Where are all the horn tooting sexual deviant posters today? Hiding in the corner with no comments no doubt.

[winnerindia]

DEAR MADAM OR SIR,
THIS BAD DISEASE IS NOT FOUND IN INDIA. WHY DON''T YOU VISIT THE LAND OF OPPORTUBITIES AND SETTLE THERE?

[lizardbate]

Lizardbate is sure glad he is straight !!!!!!!

[standlee5]

You''d think gay men would be wearing condoms to protect themselves against HIV. They should be required to wear condoms since the govt/taxpayers end up paying the 10K-20K per month for HIV drugs to keep them alive after they''re infected.

[hypnotoad72]

DEAR MADAM OR SIR,
THIS BAD DISEASE IS NOT FOUND IN INDIA. WHY DON''T YOU VISIT THE LAND OF OPPORTUBITIES AND SETTLE THERE?

Posted by WinnerIndia
---------------

1. Don''t shout. Are you a toddler?

2. Write as if you''re not a toddler; including obvious spelling issues. It''s "opportunities".

[hypnotoad72]

You''''d think gay men would be wearing condoms to protect themselves against HIV. They should be required to wear condoms since the govt/taxpayers end up paying the 10K-20K per month for HIV drugs to keep them alive after they''''re infected.

Posted by standlee5
------------------

Do you have proof of that?

Don''t get me wrong; for all their chants of wanting "equality", how many truly want to walk the talk? Even some of their own publications (used to) put out articles asking the very question. It''s okay for them to ask themselves, but anyone looking from the outside in -- well, that''s homophobia and not allowed. Odd.

And, yeah, it''s genuinely tragic some people would throw away their lives by contracting the disease; a disease of choice. Either by accident, a cheating "lover", or deliberately asking (the latter happens too...)

[nothappyatall]

"Well,whadya know,more proof that homosexuality is unhealthy and all around bad for you. Where are all the horn tooting sexual deviant posters today? Hiding in the corner with no comments no doubt."
Posted by jerkaboner"

S3x with other HUMANS is bad for you, it also results in unwanted pregnancy. As the other story about 1 in 4 teen GIRLS having an STD tells us- people are DIRTY
Funny that zoophilia carries no such risk of HIV, AIDS, Ghonnorea, VD, chalmidia or any of the dozens of human to human STD''s. I never once caught anything from an animal, and vice-versa, I''ll stick to animals thank you, and pass on the condumbs too.

[nothappyatall]

Abstinence only education ala BUSH has been a billion dollar FAILURE.

7th year of increase, up 12%, welll... the human population has ALSO increased in 7 years too, so it makes perfect sense eveything else has increased too.

[nothappyatall]

"I believe it will positively impact the health of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, [zoo] and trans-gendered community". So I think we should give GLBT more support and... "
julialily

You left out zoo''s!

African FEMALE HETEROSEXUALS are the fastest growing hiv positive group today, its NOT a g@y disease- its a human transmitted to human disease, and you think people like that hooker the NY Gov was paying $4300 an hour for would use protection?

[DaveGress]

maxify55 - you could be right, but I think it just a general ignorance of life rather than an moral dilemma. If you mean human moral''s then fine, but any religious based morals I''m not on board with. One doesn''t have to be religious to have high morals one simply has to have a brain and use it.

[nothappyatall]

Throughout history the collapse of any and every great nation was the precedence of the decline in moral values
Maxify55

Sorry to burst your bibull bubble but it had nothing to do with ''moral'' values and everything to do with religious conflicts & other wars eating up huge amounts of resources- young men killing each other, overuse and destruction of supplies and funds

It also had a lot to do with land squabbles, power quests to conquor and take property, and then overpopulation and crowding which always brings disease no matter whether its people or rats, and it wasnt till 100 years ago that society even really had MEDICAL science- anaesthesia, surgery to fix defects, transplants etc
In the civil war many died from loss of blood, infections that today can be cured with antibiotics and clean- most of this they didn''t understand back then- they didn''t even have XRAYS or scans to diagnose.
The people also lived in crowded cities full of highly combustible houses, depending on where you look- made of wood and straw thatch roofs, using fire for light because there was no electric back then, horses were also bedded with straw so this was all over the place.

Chicago burned down as did NYC and every other major city as recent as the mid 19th century- from kerosene lamps or other accidents igniting straw or wood, no fire department, no water mains

Every species that outstrips its range and becomes too crowded has a population crash from diseases, infections or starvation

[nothappyatall]

You need to get away from the right wing domintated US news are read elsewhere.
THEN you would learn South African hetero FEMALES are the largest growth group with HIV, NOT g@y men!

HIV started in AFRICA, Africa is one of the worst crowding, poorest sanitation, poorest medical care countries around, all kinds of diseases start there.

BBC NEWS S Africa has ''fastest'' ARV growth
South Africa''s government says nearly a quarter of a million HIV positive people are now receiving anti-retroviral ... S Africa has ''fastest'' ARV growth ...
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6144540.stm

HIV prevalence rate and population density: Eastern Cape ...
The HIV prevalence in South Africa has increased considerably from below 1% in 1991 to over 22% in 1998. South Africa has one of the fastest HIV growth ...
gateway.nlm.nih.gov/MeetingAbstracts/102237973.html

Positive outcomes: the chances of acquiring HIV/AIDS during the ...
The HIV rates among the age group 15-19 in the Eastern Cape are now among the fastest HIV growth rates in the world. Interventions include single s3x ...
hivaidsclearinghouse.unesco.org/ev.php?ID=3437_201&ID2=DO_TOPIC

[gaye5]

newster1, in South African, *** is something that is not just *** with *** but *** with anyone and anything.. The poor women dont know where the male had been...
And newsterl, you are dead right, from my reading it was as you said, land squabbles, power quests to conquor,overpopulation and crowding.... along with greed, hate, racial problems. we continually get told that it was RELIGION which caused the collapse, but religion was not the main cause, it was of course part of their lives but not the cause of the decline.. and it appears that along with this was moral decay..

[gaye5]

I think that it is about time that people knew what homesexuals to.. and also one cannot go licking around the *** and thus taking in fecal matter without it causing problems... it is called rimming.. and many other things.
Many homosexuals who have come out of homosexuality and are now leading normal lives say that it is a choice not something that they couldnt help. and as for the gene theory it was two homosexuals who found that... and there has been no follow up on it and there was no referees...

[gaye5]

newster1, of course it has been a failure, look at what these kids are seeing on TV, and we have an ever increasing number of stupid parents who give their kids their own TV and whose kids watch without supervision all sorts of things for hrs into the morning..Violence, drugs, *** etc is about all they see for hrs a night.. a few minute session on dont do it wont help, it has to come from responsible producers and change what is on tv, warn the kids in these shows not promote ***, violence. If TV didnt have any effect on people then why do advertising companies spend billions on few second adds???
But in having said that I have also heard that I have heard that this type of teaching does work..
"Love waits. Lust wants...... Love can''t wait to give. Lust can''t wait to take........ love mends. Lust hurts...... Love is secure. Lust is selfish......... Love is understanding, Lust doesnt care........Love brings respect, Lust brings shame.......Love lasts, Lust ends Purity.

[gaye5]

CBS NEWS..
Chlamydia Cases In U.S. On The Rise
More Than 1 Million Cases In 2006 Sets Record; Rates Of Other STDs Also Up
------------------------

(AP) More than 1 million cases of chlamydia were reported in the United States last year, the most ever reported for a sexually transmitted disease, federal health officials said Tuesday.

"A new U.S. record," said Dr. John M. Douglas Jr. of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

More bad news: Gonorrhea rates are jumping again after hitting a record low, and an increasing number of cases are caused by a "superbug" version resistant to common antibiotics, federal officials said Tuesday.

[gaye5]

Young people creating a scandal over *** has been a problem since the beginning of time. But the last few decades may be the first time in our country''s history that our adult institutions, instead of trying to keep the young on the strait and narrow path, have taken it as their mission to help kids leap headlong into the abyss.
This below alone should make us think twice about how we stop this problem..
The Heritage Foundation has published a new study showing a link between sexual activity and depression among teenagers. The news isn''t good. For sexually active girls age fourteen to seventeen, the rates of depression (which the study''s authors define as "unhappiness," not clinical depression) are more than three times higher than for those who have not been sexually active. Sexually active boys "are more than twice as likely to be depressed as are those who are not sexually active." And both boys and girls who have been sexually active are more likely to commit suicide.
Sexually Active Teenagers Are More Likely to Be Depressed and to Attempt Suicide
by Robert E. Rector, Kirk A. Johnson, Ph.D., and Lauren R. Noyes
Center for Data Analysis Report #03-04

[nothappyatall]

Gaye5;
If you look back in the more recent history, to ''Typhoid Mary'' who started a huge epidemic that was traced across her trip East to West coast, she worked handling food, thats how it was spread.
Polio epidemic, Small,Pox, black plague etc epidemics killed millions, so did/does many water borne illnesses- dysentery, malaria and so on. The common FLU is also a killer;

Simonsen et al. estimated that influenza caused approximately 21,000 deaths per year in the United States for the period 1972%u20131992.
In a recent paper, Thompson et al. (11Go) introduced a new approach for estimating deaths attributable to influenza: They fit a regression model to death time series that combined a sinusoidal function with weekly virologic surveillance data from the United States. They attributed an average of 34,000 deaths per year to influenza for the period 1976%u20131999, consistent with the 37,500 deaths per year estimated by Serfling-type models for this period.

[newsterl]

By comparison;

According to the Centers For Disease Control (CDC) there are just short of 40,000 new HIV cases in the US each year. (2005)

Its also not just g@y men the increase, read this and see where the problem IS, its CLEAR;

U.S. HIV Cases Soaring Among Black Women (washingtonpost.com)
Feb 7, 2005
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3318-2005Feb6.html

He was, Precious Jackson said, a very fine black man. He was 6 feet 2 inches tall with an almond-milk complexion, dreamy dark eyes and a deep voice. During their nearly two years together in Los Angeles, he was the sunshine of her life, even though he had a habit of landing in jail and refused to use a condom when they made love.

"I didnt ask him any questions," Jackson said in a recent interview. "I didn''t ask him about his sexual history. I asked him if he had been tested, and he said one test came back positive but another one came back negative. I was excited to have this man in my life, because I felt I needed this man to validate who I was.

Black neighborhoods, they say, are more likely to be plagued by joblessness, poverty, drug use and a high ratio of women to men, a significant portion of whom cycle in and out of a prison system where the rate of HIV infection is estimated to be as much as 10 times higher than in the general population.