Internet blamed in spread of syphilis among gays

Reuters ^

[Peter J. Huss]

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - The Internet has played a significant role in the latest increase in cases of syphilis among gay men by introducing partners more likely to practice high-risk sex, according to a study released on Wednesday.

About 22 percent of homosexual men diagnosed with early stage syphilis reported meeting one or more of their sexual partners through the Internet around the time they were infected, said the study by the Los Angeles Health Department.

Researchers at a national conference in Philadelphia on the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases also said they found gays who used the Web to meet sex partners were almost four times as likely to have anonymous sex than non-Internet users. They were also more than twice as likely to use injected drugs as those who found partners more traditionally.

Of gay men who met their partners online, 67 percent were HIV positive, according to the study.

"The Internet is an important venue for conducting STD/HIV prevention and control," said Dr. Getahun Aynalem, an author of the Los Angeles Health Department study.

"Potential public health prevention and control efforts should include interventions like online outreach."

The Internet was one of a number of factors contributing to the rise in syphilis and other sexually transmitted diseases among gay men, Aynalem said. Other contributors included the increasing use of the recreational drug crystal methamphetamine and the erectile dysfunction medication Viagra.

Nationally, the incidence of reported syphilis has increased by 18 percent in the last three years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For male homosexuals it has multiplied 12-fold.

Between 1999 and 2003, the proportion of all U.S. syphilis cases among gay men jumped to 60 percent from 5 percent.

The Los Angeles research found that men who went online to find sex partners were more likely to engage in risky sexual behavior than those who found partners elsewhere. For example, of those who said they were the dominant partner in anal sex, 91 percent were Internet users compared with 80 percent who were non-browsers.

The Web can also help control the spread of STDs, researchers said. Online, partners can be notified of a person's sexual history and chat rooms where health counselors can discuss STD prevention and control can be set up.

[Peter J. Huss]

As the headline suggest, the internet is a common mode of virual transmission.

That's why I always spray the keyboard with Lysol when I use the computers at the library.

[Crazieman]

What about SUVs? They have to work that in somewhere.

[Chewbacca]

Are they all having sex with the same computer or something?

[HELLRAISER II]

And here I thought it was caused by unprotected sex with sexual deviants, what was I thinking?

[Feckless]

need a better firewall

[dagoofyfoot]

Don't even think about buying into this lie!


Everyone with half a brain knows this is Bush's fault! (sarcasm)

[kevao]

I'd better update my Symantec.

[Peter J. Huss]

And here I thought it was caused by unprotected sex with sexual deviants, what was I thinking? Nope. Totally wrong. You see, it's the mysterious internet. Just like it's the evil SUVs and the evil guns.

[CGASMIA68]

Internet blamed in spread of syphilis among gays,
IGNORANCE & STUPIDITY blamed in spread of syphilis among gays

[Peter J. Huss]

I heard that if you use the internet 3 times, you use the internet for life!

Not that I would know. Someone told me.

[JimRed]

DEATH WISH 6: BUG CHASER

[HELLRAISER II]

Yeah those Guns & SUV's are waiting on every corner just waiting to kill somebody, somebody should do something about that.

[babyface00]

Another 100% preventable disease explosively spreading due to reckless promiscuity. (and this is no criticism of homosexuality per se, which is an entirely different discussion).

In a free society, these idiots would simply have to live with the consequences of their decisions. However, in the society we live in now, those of us who actually are responsible with our lives, have to forfeit our current and future earnings to subsidize the treatment of these sluts.

I'm sick of it.

[jammer]

Somehow, I thought the organism was trasnmitted during [usually] sexual contact. Hmmm. A new vector? Or is the increase due to an increase in promiscuity?

Just remember one thing: you and I paid for these "researchers" with tax dollars. When I hear, "a study shows . . . ", my eyes glaze. That almost always means that I am either about to hear something a five-year old knows or that I am about to hear something so counter-intuitive and logically flawed that it doesn't deserve attention.

[gathersnomoss]

What are these happy people doing with their mouse?

[CGASMIA68]

those of us who actually are responsible with our lives, have to forfeit our current and future earnings to subsidize the treatment of these sluts.
Excellent point never gave it consideration...now iam really disturbed

[Rebelbase]

Gore's fault.

[CGASMIA68]

thought they used hampsters

[non-anonymous]

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