‘Not a simple answer’ for desert’s syphilis problem
"In the year since health officials warned of a growing syphilis problem here, the alarming but easily curable disease continues to overrun the Coachella Valley.
Despite a year of education and testing efforts, Palm Springs alone has a syphilis rate of 81.8 per 100,000 people in 2003, twice the rate of the nation’s No. 1 city for syphilis, San Francisco.
As of the end of August, 73 cases were reported in Riverside County, compared with 78 during the same period in 2003. In both years, most of the cases were coming from the Coachella Valley.
The disease, health officials say, is being spread in the desert almost exclusively by gay men, many of whom are also HIV-positive.
"We’ve considered it being at epidemic levels since 2002," said Barbara Cole, director of disease control in Riverside County and the lead official on the valley’s syphilis outbreak...
Something happened
Syphilis in the United States was in decline across the board in the 1980s and 1990s. According to the CDC, syphilis occurred mainly among heterosexual blacks in the South and in large cities in the 1990s. The incidence of sexually transmitted diseases declined substantially among gay men as a result of a decrease in risky sexual behavior as fears of HIV and AIDS spread.
Then something happened, at least in gay communities. Syphilis started popping up again. First there was an epidemic in the Seattle area in the late 1990s. Then an outbreak in Southern California.
Today, health officials say there is a syphilis problem in several American cities with substantial gay populations -- San Francisco, New York and Atlanta...
The question is why? There are many theories, but no definitive answers.
One of the most common is that gay men have begun engaging in risky sexual behavior because they’ve grown tired of the safe sex message, or are no longer concerned about AIDS..."
"... Overall, sexually transmitted diseases strike an estimated 19 million Americans a year, at a cost of $15 billion, said Dr. John Douglas, director of the CDC's STD prevention efforts. While many of those infected are heterosexual, federal health officials are devoting much of their attention to what Douglas calls "crescendoing" STD rates among gay and bisexual men.
Syphilis, in particular, is drawing much attention. The federal government had hoped to virtually eradicate the disease during this decade, but an epidemic among gay and bisexual men during the past four years has scuttled those plans...
Experts fear the AIDS epidemic is growing worse because gay men are abandoning safer sex practices, possibly because of "condom fatigue" or a misplaced belief that AIDS is a treatable condition...
June 9, 2004 -- Susan Brinkmann, an investigative journalist, is currently writing a six-part series on homosexuality called "Homosexuality: The Untold Story - A Dangerous New Diversity," for the Catholic Standard & Times, the Archdiocese newspaper of Philadelphia.
In Part 3 of her series on the health consequences of homosexual behavior, Brinkmann writes: "The American public has been left largely in the dark about the extent of the medical problems associated with homosexual activity because of the influence of pro-homosexual political agendas. Some even believe they are being 'compassionate' by not disclosing vital health information for fear of offending homosexuals."
The facts, however, tell a disturbing story about the dangers of homosexual behavior. Brinkmann points out the following:
Brinkmann also notes that a high number of homosexuals appear to have been molested as children compared to the general population. In one study, the American Journal of Public Health found that 39% of males who have same-sex attraction had been abused by homosexual men.
- A 1997 New York Times article reported that a young male homosexual has about a 50% chance of getting HIV by middle age.
- By 1998, 54% of all AIDS cases in America were homosexual men and 90% of these men acquired HIV through sexual activity.
- The life expectancy for homosexual males is from eight to 20 years less compared to heterosexual males.
- The risk of getting anal cancer soars by 4000% in those who engage in anal intercourse.
The author notes that from "an immunological point of view, the body itself considers homosexual acts to be disordered. For instance, there are substances in seminal fluid called 'immuno-regulatory macromolecule' that send out 'signals' that are only understood by the female body, which will then permit the 'two in one flesh' intimacy required for human reproduction. When deposited elsewhere, these signals are not only misunderstood, but cause sperm to fuse with whatever somatic body cell they encounter. This fusing is what often results in the development of cancerous malignancies. (See "Sexual Behavior and Increased Anal Cancer," Immunology and Cell Biology 75 (1977); 181-183.)
Part 1: The Phantom Gene
Part 2: Known causes of same-sex attraction
Part 3: Health risks of the homosexual lifestyle