Syphilis Rates Among Gay Men Highest Since Before Start Of HIV Epidemi

[W!nston]

CDC Official: Syphilis Rates Among Gay Men Highest Since Before Start Of HIV Epidemic
CNS News | By Penny Starr | April 13, 2016 | 6:11 PM EDT

Gail Bolan, director of the CDC’s Division of STD Prevention, spoke at an event on sexually transmitted diseases on Capitol Hill on April 13, 2016​

The rate of syphilis infection among homosexual men has increased to a level not seen since the start of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, an official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Capitol Hill Wednesday.

“We’re concerned about our high levels of syphilis among men who have sex with men – really we’re back to the level of disease – burden of disease – in gay men that we were seeing before HIV in this country,” said Gail Bolan, director of the CDC’s Division of STD Prevention.

She was speaking at an event held to lobby for federal funding to fight sexually transmitted diseases in the United States.

A CDC fact sheet on sexually-transmitted disease (STD) surveillance in 2014 refers to a “troubling rise in syphilis infections among men, particularly gay and bisexual men.”

“Trend data show rates of syphilis are increasing at an alarming rate (15.1 percent in 2014),” it says.

“While rates have increased among both men and women, men account for more than 90 percent of all primary and secondary syphilis cases,” the fact sheet says.

“Men who have sex with men (MSM) account for 83 percent of male cases where the sex of the sex partner is known,” the fact sheet states. “Primary and secondary syphilis are the most infectious stages of the disease, and if not adequately treated, can lead to long-term infection, which can cause visual impairment and stroke.”

“Syphilis infection can also place a person at increased risk for acquiring or transmitting HIV infection,” it says. “Available surveillance data indicate that an average of half of MSM who have syphilis are also infected with HIV.”

William Smith, executive director of the National Coalition of STD Directors, said his group, the CDC and other partners have requested $8.1 million in federal funding for fiscal year 2017 to fight STDs.

Featured at the event was a pink stuffed toy meant to represent the bacteria that causes syphilis. Smith said every lawmakers on Capitol Hill received one – or an equivalent toy representing the bacteria that causes gonorrhea – as part of an invitation to Wednesday’s event.

“Everyone on the Hill got syphilis or gonorrhea this week,” he quipped.

A stuffed toy version of the syphilis bacteria featured at Wednesday’s Capitol Hill briefing​

April is STD awareness month.

SOURCE

I looked for a different source for this story but this seems to be it for now.

The statistic that caught my eye was:

“Men who have sex with men (MSM) account for 83 percent of male cases where the sex of the sex partner is known”

What does that mean exactly? Does it mean those 83% of men were the only ones who paid attention to the sex of the person they were fucking were the Gay men? What would that say about the Str8 guys? That they were just fucking anything that moved?

It is alarming to say the least. Before the HIV/AIDS epidemic there was hepatitis, syphilis and gonorrhea, herpes and genital warts (HPV) and the stigma was great. Since HIV/AIDS the stigma of the other VDs (STDs) seems to have vanished. It's like "Oh, it's only the clap, thank God".

Back then if you went to the doctor because it burns when you pee he might run a VD screen on your blood and a swab of your dick. If it was positive he had to notify the health department who would follow up with you and ask about your partners. VD was a public health threat that a dose of penicillin would subdue.

Guys should realize when you sleep with some one new to you that you are actually sleeping with everyone they've ever slept with and all the people they've ever slept with etc etc. Somewhere in that pool of possible sources of infection will be a positive one. The chances of catching one or more STDs are pretty good.

Bareback sex is too risky to practice yourself unless everyone is tested for all the possible diseases. Use a condom every time. Even when you start a relationship use condoms and avoid sharing 'gender fluids' (from the remake of the movie Vacation lol). If you are still together and monogamous after a year maybe then consider going RAW but not unless and until you are sure it's safe.

I wonder what the rates of chlamydia is these days?