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."

[newsterl]

If you go to animal breeding, there is linebred and outcross, both have positives and negatives, with linebred you set many characteristics that are good but if there are genetic faults you can double up on them. With outcrossing you reshuffle the genes and that can bring in different good things, but it can also bring in a multitude of defects that become dominant with subsequent breeding- albinoism, deafness in Dalmatians etc
Humans are the results of thousands of generations of OUTCROSS breedings due to the taboo against ''incest'' so we are plagued with many many genetic faults and problems.

Theres no easy answer but if we dont get the human population growth under control, diseases, starvation and worse will do it for us- thats a fact an science isnt going to fix this, we simply cant grow more and more food on less land indefinitely to keep up with it.
Trouble is, we set up society to NEED young workers to pay into the SS system, the whole way Govt and society have been set up depends on this growth, but it cant go on indefinitely in a finite environment.
Life per "Logans Run" or "Soylent Green" to start with could become the results.

[newsterl]

Gaye5 you are probably one of the better co-posters on this site, we may disagree on things but we brought in some good material to this thread in the past couple of days.
Theres a lot of problems and side issues, but they are all related to or directly connected to overpopulation. Disease is natures way of controlling that, it doesnt matter if we talk rats, cows or humans, we are all subject to the same problems.
Mammals are all made basically with the same anatomy, the planet is full of nasty bacteria, diseases and virus, the living organism either adapts and copes or it doesnt and dies- survival of the fittest is natures way.
The problem with antibiotics and anti bacterial cleaners is they dont kill 100%, they always leave a few organisms behind and those are the ones that build up immunity or coping mechanisms and come back stronger than ever.

[gaye5]

Spot on newsterl, I said the same thing we are too clean, and I feel that it relates to immunisation also as our bodies are not getting what Drs used to call the minor childhood diseases to build up resistance..
In regards to urine, I have read that it is also been used for medical purposes as well, goodness knows why??? and yes we are becoming to populated which will bring about the demise of millions..if war doesnt get us first..
I get upset for those who have diffent ideas simply because it appears that on this site that people with different thoughts are belittled for their opinions, and if it isnt left wing thinking then they are lambasted as being ignorant, religious, or brainwashed. These people who are accusing others for being brainwashed, ignorant and or stupid that the same could be pointed at them, we must except others who have different opinions and listen to what they say and sometimes we acturally learn off them or them us.. I love learning and am very open to knowledge, well referenced knowledge.. I try to make sure that everything that I print is well reseached, unless it is my thoughts on things..

[newsterl]

Sure thing Gaye5. I posted the urine article mainly for medical reference- it IS quite clean as it says, though I have NO interest in it! it of itself is not some disease ridden liquid and I think the article you resourced mentioned urine drinking to disgust the readers- the bias I mentioned.
Disease are increasing because population has, so has overcrowding and overuse/misuse of antibiotics. 3rd world countries are another big problem and the tropics are a breeding ground for malaria, and much more because there''s no freeze.
I firmly believe kids raised in todays hospital-like homes are the ones whose immune systems never develop- they cant because mom is there with the handi wipes, hand sanitizer, lysol, anti bacterial cleaners etc- these are the ones who when exposed to the real world, pets, fumes, polin, dander, dust their immune system goes ape chit, they get allergies, asthma and worse.

[gaye5]

There is now a thought that many of these diseases were on the way down when imunizations was introduced, simply because of the awareness of hygine.
They now wonder if we are toooo hygenic and this is why many diseases along with new ones are on the increase, as the people have not had their immune systems built up with mild diseases..
Throughout history we have had epidemics which have come and gone (by themselves), and will get some that will come and go again..

[gaye5]

newsterl, thanks for the debate, I love sensible discussions, and your one of urine is something that I would do if I had to..
And yes we have had some terrible diseases in the past and yes they are on the increase again, it is a shame that the third world countries cant afford to immunise and because of this the world will always have these diseases until the pharmecutical companies decide that they will truthfully do it for mankind regardless of whether it is profitable or not..but of course they wont do the third world countries for nothing as it is not money in their pockets, so although they say that they have done it for mankind, in reality it is for their pockets.
I am for some immunizations but not blanket immunization of what used to be called the mild child hood diseases.. they built the immune system, and yes the very odd child with very low immune system died or was damaged or a pregnant mothers child was effective but most children got them and lived happily ever after..Many children who have been vaccinated are getting measles, mumps etc, including my grandkids...

[newsterl]

Ok Gaye5? you see what a little perspective on this does?

In the 20th century, tuberculosis alone killed an estimated 100 million people, how does that compare numbers wise to AIDS?

TB was spread by cough, sneeze and contact with infected objects or air.

400,000 Europeans a year died from smallpox in the 1700''s, and 80% of children infected DIED.
We eventually eradicated smallpox didnt we? so now AIDS has replaced it so to speak- but at least it doesnt spread by people SNEEZING in the same room as you, so you are safe, it doesnt personally affect your health.

[newsterl]

Tuberculosis, or ''consumption'' as it was commonly known, caused the most widespread public concern in the 19th and early 20th centuries as an endemic disease of the urban poor. In 1815, one in four deaths in England was of consumption; by 1918 one in six deaths in France were still caused by TB.

In the 20th century, tuberculosis killed an estimated 100 million people.

After the establishment in the 1880s that the disease was contagious, TB was made a notifiable disease in Britain; there were campaigns to stop spitting in public places, and the infected poor were "encouraged" to enter sanatoria that resembled prisons; the sanatoria for the middle and upper classes offered excellent care and constant medical attention. Whatever the purported benefits of the fresh air and labor in the sanatoria, even under the best conditions, 50% of those who entered were dead within five years (1916)

It was not until 1946 with the development of the antibiotic streptomycin that effective treatment and cure became possible.

[newsterl]

Active tuberculosis will kill about two of every three people affected if left untreated. Treated tuberculosis has a mortality rate of less than 5% (or less in developed countries where intensive supportive measures are available).

When people suffering from active pulmonary TB cough, sneeze, speak, kiss, or spit, they expel infectious aerosol droplets 0.5 to 5 5m in diameter. A single sneeze, for instance, can release up to 40,000 droplets.[17] Each one of these droplets may transmit the disease, since the infectious dose of tuberculosis is very low and the inhalation of just a single bacterium can cause a new infection.

Annually, 8 million people become ill with tuberculosis, and 2 million people die from the disease worldwide.[50] In 2004, around 14.6 million people had active TB disease with 9 million new cases

[newsterl]

Urine is mostly sterile, and definitely safe to drink.

Most people forget that urine is mostly water. Water is the filter of the human body. Waste that our cells produce, collectivley known as urea, ends up in our bloodstream. Our kidneys remove the urea, along with excess water, and the result is urine.

When you drink your own urine, you are putting more water back into your system, but you are also putting in the stuff your body is trying to get rid of. This is not bad for you at first, but if you drink no water, only your own urine for an extended period of time, the urea content of your urine will increase. It becomes difficult to urinate, painfull sometimes. But note, this is after drinking your own urine for days.

Its like using a dirty air filter. It works, but soon the filter will become more and more clogged with dust. Just like an air filter, the urine, which now must dispose of more and more waste in the same amount of water, becomes saturated. This is observable, as if you do drink your own urine over a few days it becomes darker in color. Similarly, the more water you drink, the lighter your urine is.

Astronauts on the Apollo 13 mission were stuck in space without power. For the last four days or so of their journey, they had run out of liquid water. They drank their own urine, which kept them from dehydration while they came home. I am not simply using the movie as the source of that info, they did in fact have to drink their own urine.

[newsterl]

"you mentioned global warming..there are two sides to the debate, and all thoughts from scientists on both sides are valide, crops were once grown in Greenland but it became to frozen so the vikings had to leave"

True, and due to continental drift Alaska was once near the equator, and the great lakes were formed by glaciers, but none of that means a thing when you look at the PHOTOS of year-round snow covered high mountains, and glaciers in valleys taken in the 1930''s- both the snow covered mountains and the glacier had been there as they were for all recorded history, then (now) you look at photos and those snow capped mountains are almost BARE, the glaciers in the 1930''s photos which were stable suddenly rapidly melting and now gone. You can see in the satellite/space images from now and from years ago- large chunks of formerly soldily frozen stable ice cracking and melting away. A formerly ice blocked passage now melted enough to allow ships for the first time ever. More frequent and violent storms and wierd weather.
You only need to LOOK at photos to see whats happening, it doesnt matter what its CALLED- warming or climate change/shifting, or what caused it- theres nothing WE can do about it- Ive heard it may be related to increased solar sunspot/solar activity and believe that more than my little can of hair spray, driving, or plastic garbage bags is going to destroy the ozone

[newsterl]

The 14th century eruption of the Black Death had a drastic effect on Europe''s population, irrevocably changing Europe''s social structure. It was a serious blow to the Roman Catholic Church, and resulted in widespread persecution of minorities such as Jews, foreigners, beggars, and lepers. The uncertainty of daily survival created a general mood of morbidity, influencing people to "live for the moment", as illustrated by Giovanni Boccaccio in The Decameron (1353)

Smallpox is believed to have emerged in human populations about 10,000 BC. The disease killed an estimated 400,000 Europeans each year during the 18th century and was responsible for a third of all blindness. Between 20 and 60% of all those infected%u2014and over 80% of infected children%u2014died from the disease.

During the 20th century, it is estimated that smallpox was responsible for 300%u2013500 million deaths. As recently as 1967, the World Health Organization estimated that 15 million people contracted the disease and that two million died in that year


"but I can tell from the way that you are pushing the line on s.ex that it would appear that you are more likely to be gay yourself."

Im certainly not gay, Im a life-long active ''bi-zoo'' new term for you; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoophilia I have no interest in other people physically, but unlike gay men or hetero''s, I have never in 45 years caught anything from my partners, not once, not even a UTI.

[newsterl]

As far as gay men dying younger etc etc in the unsourced article you posted, I dont have an opinion on it, people make their own decisions and problems, and again Ill reiterate- humans are filthy and can transmit a whole range of nasty diseases just touching the same doorknob or having sexual contact of ANY kind. These disease like HIV etc well, ghonnoreah, VD syphillis etc were VERY common, I think it was Beethoven or Chopin who was thought to have died from one of the other due to the symptoms. HIV etc is simply replacing the older diseases we stopped, that killed or crippled millions- plague, smallpox, polio etc

Put some perspective on this stuff will ya? HIV is nothing compared to the plague;

The Black Death, or the Black Plague, was one of the most deadly pandemics in human history. It probably began in Central Asia and spread to Europe by the late 1340s. The total number of deaths worldwide from the pandemic is estimated at 75 million people; there were an estimated 25-50 million deaths in Europe. The Black Death is estimated to have killed 30% to 60% of Europe''s population.

The same disease is thought to have returned to Europe every generation with varying virulence and mortalities until the 1700s. During this period, more than 100 plague epidemics swept across Europe. On its return in 1603, the plague killed 38,000 Londoners.

[newsterl]

report also gave stats of kids who are not sexually active,"
And you dont think a teen whose parents are strict would be above lying that they are not active? what teen admits to strict parents they are flloing around, smoking, drinking or doing drugs? very few!

" we are suposed to be far more intelligent than animals, not act like them.."

We ARE animals, we are hardly removed from them at all, and in some cases we are worse- animals kill for food and survival, we do it for no reason at all.

" is it only the left wing with its lack of morals which are to be listened to and of course the left always say that the right are religious nuts thus no notice should be taken of them, well they are people also with opinions and I am not religious."

You are assuming that because someone is ''left'' they have no morals, even the ''right'' republicons have been in the news for a variety of things showing they are NOT the moral icons they claim to be, neither are the pedo priests.
The problem with the right is they use as THEIR source for all- an old book that is about 2,000 years outdated as though its THE unarguable source of perfection, its not.

"right winged people were counted as middle of the road"

Were is right, now they swung way over right and are trying to LEGISLATE everyone''s lives according to their book and church, even that idiot judge in Missouri who SNUCK into the public courthouse a "ten commandments" monument in the middle of the night knowing full well that was wrong.

[newsterl]

Gaye5, as far as the numbers of influenza deaths, this comes from the CDC data, remember; this is 21,000 out of 300 MILLION people- the odds of you personally knowing any of those is nill, but deaths are public records and databased as to CAUSE, as almost all deaths have autopsies conducted- especially if the person was SICK.
Go to any old cemetary in the US and you will find many stones circa 1890''s which list babies and children, in many cases SEVERAL who all died within weeks of one another- from various killer diseases they had no cures for and no antibiotics for.
Back then an infected tooth could kill you.

[gaye5]

and newsterl you mentioned global warming..there are two sides to the debate, and all thoughts from scientists on both sides are valide, crops were once grown in Greenland but it became to frozen so the vikings had to leave.
FOX NEWS com
Weather Channel Founder: Sue Al Gore for Fraud
Friday, March 14, 2008

"Since we can''t get a debate, I thought perhaps if we had a legal challenge and went into a court of law, where it was our scientists and their scientists, and all the legal proceedings with the discovery and all their documents from both sides and scientific testimony from both sides, we could finally get a good solid debate on the issue," Coleman said. "I''m confident that the advocates of ''no significant effect from carbon dioxide'' would win the case."

Coleman says his side of the global-warming debate is being buried in mainstream media circles.

"As you look at the atmosphere over the last 25 years, there''s been perhaps a degree of warming, perhaps probably a whole lot less than that, and the last year has been so cold that that''s been erased," he said.

"I think if we continue the cooling trend a couple of more years, the general public will at last begin to realize that they''ve been scammed on this global-warming thing."
But of course he isnt on the global warming side so will be considered a nut, but if he had of been on the side of global warming they would have said that this well known etc etc, he would have then become crediable..

[gaye5]

Age distributions of samples of homosexuals in the scientific literature from 1858 to 1997 suggest a similarly shortened lifespan. . . .
At least 8 new sexually transmitted germs were identified between 1980 and 1997.38 Dr. Max Essex, chair of the Harvard AIDS Institute, warned Congress in 1992 that "AIDS has already led to other kinds of dangerous epidemics. . The Biological Swapmeet
The typical sexual practices of homosexuals are a medical horror story - imagine exchanging saliva, feces, *** and/or blood with dozens of different men each year. Imagine drinking urine, ingesting feces and experiencing rectal trauma on a regular basis. Often these encounters occur while the participants are drunk, high, and/or in an orgy setting. Further, many of them occur in extremely unsanitary places (e.g., bathrooms, dirty peep shows), or, because homosexuals travel so frequently, in other parts of the world. etc etc..
References: 1) Karlen A Sexuality and Homosexuality NY: Norton, 1971. 2) Cameron et al The longevity of homosexuals Omega 1994;29:249-72. 16) Beral et al Risk of Kaposi''s sarcoma and sexual practices associated with fecal contact in homosexual or bisexual men with AIDS Lancet 1992;339:938. 32) CDC HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report December, 1996. 33) HIV-infected patients J Amer Med Assn 1992;267:2632-35. 34) Wall Street Jnl 7/18/91, B1. 35) Chu et al AIDS in bisexual men in the US Amer J Pub Health 1992;82:220-24. 38) Wetzstein Washington Times 4/12/97. 39)

[gaye5]

Medical Consequences of What Homosexuals

Homosexuals Die Young
6,737 obituaries from 18 U.S. homosexual journals over the past 13 years were compared to a large sample of obituaries from regular newspapers.5 The obituaries from the regular newspapers were similar to U.S. averages for longevity: the median age of death of married, never-divorced men was 75 and 80% of them died old (age 65 or older). For unmarried or divorced men the median age of death was 57 and 32% of them died old. Married, never-divorced women averaged 79 at death; 85% died old. Unmarried and divorced women averaged age 71 and 60% of them died old.

The median age of death for homosexuals, however, was virtually the same nationwide - and, overall, about 2% survived to old age. If AIDS was the cause of death, the median age was 39. For the 829 *** who died of something other than AIDS, the median age of death was 42 and 9% died old. The 163 lesbians had a median age of death of 44 and 20% died old.

Even when AIDS was not involved, homosexuals frequently met an early demise. Three percent of *** died violently. They were 116 times more apt to be murdered, much more apt to commit suicide, and had high traffic-accident death-rates. Heart attacks, cancer and liver failure were exceptionally common. 18% of lesbians died of murder, suicide, or accidents - a rate 456 times higher than that of white females aged 25-44.5

[gaye5]

newsterl, you are right to a certain extent, the pressure on kids is terrible, but the report also gave stats of kids who are not sexually active, and of course there is more to it than this.
I dont care what animals do newsterl, we are suposed to be far more intelligent than animals, not act like them..
So newsterl is it only the left wing with its lack of morals which are to be listened to and of course the left always say that the right are religious nuts thus no notice should be taken of them, well they are people also with opinions and I am not religious. It isnt to long ago when these right winged people were counted as middle of the road, but I can tell from the way that you are pushing the line on *** that it would appear that you are more likely to be gay yourself..

[gaye5]

newster1, yes you are correct, but there are many instances of this, if people dont wash after going to the toilet then what can one expect..
It is also thought that the estimates of numbers dying is way off, ask Americans if they have family or friends who had died of influenza and you will find that not many would say yes, and with 21,000 deaths per year I am sure that if it were true that people would say that they knew of people, I dont know of any but I live in Australia, and I was a nurse.. I have come to the conclusion that we are being fed a lie to put profits in the pockets of the drug companies..
Just try looking up the dangers of immunization eh.. do a bit of research yourself on the other side.. and think of the massive numbers of so called wonder drugs which are eventually taken off the market after it has killed thousands..not when a few die but after many thousands die..