Posted on 07/17/2014 5:44:35 PM PDT by BenLurkin
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — California is one of the nation’s leaders in tourism, solar jobs, charter schools, sunny days and the entertainment industry.
But according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the state is in danger of leading in another area: syphilis.
The rate of syphilis infection for the United States and its regional territories began rising for the first time in a decade in 2001 after steadily declining every year since 1990, the CDC said. The national rate held steady at 4.5 infections in 100,000 in 2011, but the CDC’s most recent data shows that in 2012, the national syphilis rate again began to rise to 4.6.
Locally, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation on Thursday put up a billboard to try to combat the growing infection rate.
The billboard, to appear around Los Angeles, uses the California state grizzly bear smacking a paw to its forehead, a reminder not to forget to use a condom.
AHF says the only way to continue to fight the disease is with condom use and routine STD testing. The AHF hopes humor in discussing the topic will lead to awareness.
The healthcare group quoted CDC’s nationwide surveillance of California, which saw 3,600 cases of late latent syphilis, 2,900 cases of early latent syphilis and 3,500 cases of primary and secondary syphilis in 2013. This is an increase of 18 percent from the number of cases in 2012, the CDC said
The billboard also promotes www.freeSTDcheck.org, where the public can find locations to access free STD testing and affordable care for the treatment of STDs, including chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis through AHF.
For the record, Florida leads the country in new syphilis cases.
Similar STD billboards have appeared the past few years in Florida, Oklahoma, Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia
Go California! You can do it!
Be Number 1!
They’re just not gay enough. Try harder!
Maybe with this massive new influx of illegal aliens, we'll be #1 in syphilis too.
You know who is the driving force behind this?
Overwhelmingly it’s gays, particularly black gays.
What, finding something to do other than f***ing everything with a pulse isn't an option?
Why didn’t the article say homosexuals are the leading ones infected.
I read they’re spreading a new superbug gonorrhea. In order to prevent the spread of HIV, we’re going to have to pay $15,000 for them to take an anti-HIV spreading medication. Since there are so few of them, I assume that won’t affect the government costs that much.
Two important things about syphilis are first, that this is still the “ordinary” syphilis, not particularly drug resistant. A worry is that HIV is so common among homosexual men, that those with a compromised immune system are “petri dishes” that incubate DR bacteria.
Second is that if a DR variety emerges, it will certainly spread into the population as a whole, and untreated syphilis can be pretty horrible, especially in its latter stages.
But don't fret about it liberal/communist America. The gays will be allowed to donate blood and blood products, have sex with anyone and be allowed to interact with children. God forbid that they should have any restrictions on their activities! And don't forget to provide needles for those drug users who need them. Syphilis for everyone!
Finally. Florida is #1 in something!
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