"STDs affect people in all walks of life, particularly young women and men, but these data suggest an increasing burden among gay and bisexual men.”UPDATE 11/25/15: Government Warns that Homosexual Men are Huge HIV Risk
-- Jonathan Mermin, Director, CDC National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and Tuberculosis Prevention
For background, click headlines below to read previous articles:
The Only 'Safe Gays' are Celibate Gays, Says U.S. FDA
Carefree 'Safe Sex' NOT Possible: Federal CDC Admits Failure
HIV Rates Rise Among Homosexual Men: Federal Study
HIV Rates Soar — Florida #1 in Anal Sex Disease
Soaring Syphilis Rates Among Homosexual Men Point to HIV Risk
Federal Government Says HIV/AIDS is Mostly a Gay Disease
Anal Sex is Main Cause of HIV Pandemic, Study Shows
New Gay Health Risk: Meningococcal Disease
-- From "STD rates increasing in US" by The Associated Press 11/17/15
Reported cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis all increased in 2014. Chlamydia cases had dipped in 2013, but last year's total of more than 1.4 million — or 456 cases per 100,000 — was the highest number of annual cases of any condition ever reported to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The chlamydia rate was up almost 3 percent from 2013, the CDC reported Tuesday.
Gonorrhea cases totaled 350,062, up 5 percent from 2013, and the most contagious forms of syphilis jumped 15 percent to 20,000. As in previous years, the syphilis increase was mainly in gay and bisexual men.
Most gonorrhea and chlamydia infections were in 15- to 24-year-olds, an ongoing trend. Both can cause infertility in women but can be treated with antibiotics. They often have no symptoms, and while yearly screening is recommended for sexually active women younger than 25, many don't get tested and infections go untreated, the CDC said.
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From "CDC: 'Alarming' increase in STDs" by Mary Bowerman, USA TODAY Network 11/18/15
“While rates have increased among both men and women, men account for more than 90 percent of all primary and secondary syphilis cases,” according to the [CDC] report.
Gay and bisexual men are most at risk for syphilis infections, according to the report. Men who reported that they had sex with other men accounted for 83% of male cases where the partner’s sex was reported.
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From "Rates Of Syphillis, Chlamydia And Gonorrhea Rising For First Time Since 2006, Particularly Among Young People" by Ed Cara, Medical Daily 11/17/15
Syphilis, however, remains primarily a problem among men who have sex with men (MSM), encompassing 83 percent of reported cases (when the sex of the partner is known). Fifty percent of MSM syphilis cases were also HIV-positive, highlighting a known but nonetheless frightening connection between the two STDs. It’s believed the sores commonly seen in syphilis make it easier for the HIV virus to be transmitted between partners.
“A number of individual risk behaviors (such as higher numbers of lifetime sex partners), as well as environmental, social and cultural factors (such as higher prevalence of STDs or difficulty accessing quality health care) contribute to disparities in the sexual health of gay and bisexual men,” explained the CDC’s summary of their report. . . .
It wasn’t solely age, gender, and sexual orientation that predicted greater STD rates, but race as well. In particular, STD rates were highest in blacks across the board, though few minority groups fared better than whites, save Asians.
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From "Syphilis, Gonorrhea, Chlamydia Rates Rising: CDC" by Steven Reinberg, HealthDay Reporter (posted at WebMD) 11/17/15
"In the previous years, we have had some declines in some diseases and increases in others. But, we are concerned about the alarming increases we are seeing in chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis," said lead researcher Dr. Gail Bolan, director of the CDC's Division of STD Prevention.
"We are concerned that most of the surging rates are among men," Bolan said. "Men are driving these increases. There is an urgent need to tackle the increases we are seeing."
There is also evidence that gay and bisexual men are seeing similar increases in gonorrhea and chlamydia, she said.
Despite that, young people are still the most disproportionately affected by STDs, Bolan added. Last year, those between the ages of 15 and 24 accounted for nearly two-thirds of the reported cases of chlamydia and gonorrhea. That compares to previous estimates that young people get half of the estimated 20 million new STDs diagnosed each year in the United States, she pointed out.
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From "New STD? What You Should Know About Mycoplasma Genitalium" by Rachael Rettner, Senior Writer, LiveScience 11/17/15
The study found that the bacterium Mycoplasma genitalium, which is thought to be sexually transmitted, infects more than 1 percent of people ages 16 to 44 in the United Kingdom. That comes out to about 250,000 people, according to U.K. census data. Studies in the United States have found that a similar percentage of people here are infected with M. genitalium.
That makes M. genitalium a more common sexually transmitted disease (STD) than gonorrhea, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The new study adds to the evidence that M. genitalium is an STD, because it found that the infection was more common in people who had at least four new sexual partners in the past year than in people who had one or fewer new partners in the past year. In addition, people were more likely to have M. genitalium if they had unprotected sex, and no infections were found in people who had never had sex, according to the study, which was published Nov. 3 in the International Journal of Epidemiology.
The new study in the International Journal of Epidemiology found that about 94 percent of men and 56 percent of women infected with M. genitalium did not have symptoms.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
Also read CDC Report Shows Most HIV Homosexual Men Have Unprotected Sex
