Posted on 11/29/2007 3:46:46 PM PST by SwinneySwitch
Disease rate higher for those with U.S. clients, study says
Female prostitutes in Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez who catered to American “johns” had a 50 percent higher rate of syphilis or another sexually transmitted disease than those who didn't, according to a UCSD study.
The women paid by American customers were younger and more likely to speak English than their counterparts, and they were more apt to inject drugs and have unprotected sex, said Steffanie Strathdee, chief of the international health division at the University of California San Diego. She wrote the report, which appears in the current edition of the journal Sexually Transmitted Diseases.
“A lot of (customers) who go to Mexico to have sex may be lulled into a false sense of complacency,” Strathdee said. “They think that if the woman speaks English and looks OK and clean, she is safe. But these are highly vulnerable women. They are being bribed to have unprotected sex.”
The prostitutes with U.S. clients typically received $30 for unprotected sex versus $20 for sex with a condom, she found.
Online: To read the study about Mexican prostitutes' health risks, go to uniontrib.com/more/bordersex
The economic incentive may explain why prostitutes with U.S. clients had higher rates of gonorrhea, syphilis, HIV and chlamydia than women who did not engage in sex for pay with Americans.
Strathdee emphasized that the women should not take all the blame.
“Their clients also share some responsibility,” she said. “Some of these men are offering these women more money for sex without a condom, but no one should have to put a price on their health.”
Strathdee worked with health officials and researchers in Mexico, Boston and Davis to survey 924 prostitutes – 474 in Tijuana and 450 in Ciudad Juarez – between January 2004 and March 2005.
Sixty-nine percent of the prostitutes said they had at least one American client. Within that group, nearly 42 percent reported having a few American customers, and about 13 percent said most of their clients were American.
Prostitutes received about $30 an hour for their participation in the study, Strathdee said. The National Institute for Mental Health funded the research.
The goal is to find effective ways to persuade prostitutes in five U.S.-Mexico border cities – Tijuana; Mexicali; Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas; Matamoros, across from Brownsville, Texas; and Nuevo Laredo, across from Laredo, Texas – to reduce their high-risk activities.
“We really need to intensify the intervention,” Strathdee said. “This is a shared border, and we really need to make sure this message gets across.”
Health experts had long assumed that STD infection rates in Mexican border towns were relatively low based on a few outdated surveys, Strathdee said.
AdvertisementHer project found a significant increase in the number of prostitutes infected with HIV – 6 percent in 2005, up from 2 percent 10 years ago. A further analysis of HIV prevalence among Mexican prostitutes who injected drugs found that 12 percent had tested positive for HIV. The researchers' other findings include:
Of the prostitutes who catered to Americans, 8 percent tested positive for gonorrhea, 14 percent for chlamydia, 7 percent for HIV and 16 percent for syphilis.
Of the prostitutes who didn't have sex with Americans, 2 percent tested positive for gonorrhea, 10 percent for chlamydia, 5 percent for HIV and 10 percent for syphilis.
Sixteen percent of Mexican prostitutes who serviced U.S. clients had injected drugs in the past month, compared with 5 percent for those without U.S. customers.
Eighteen percent of the prostitutes with U.S. clients always or often used drugs before or during sex, compared with 7 percent of the prostitutes without U.S. customers.
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Cheryl Clark: (619) 542-4573; cheryl.clark@uniontrib.com
Sex with the types of Americans who go to Tijuana to have sex with hookers, risky for Mexican hookers.
they were more apt to inject drugs and have unprotected sex
And thats the fault of the Johns - why?
Bobby Bare sang about this in “Tequila Sheila.”
thought this was a BJ Klintoon story...
Just doing the jobs Americans won’t do?
Nasty.
How about they stop hooking? - nah...
Now that’s a low blow.
You get what you pay for.
HA! Perfect.
Did it reveal in the story that 50% of prostitutes, when asked questions about their sexual habits, lie to scholars who waste tax payer money?
I guess they’re doing the jobs Americans won’t do.
Somehow I don’t think this is high on the prositutes list.
I would imagine money is their no. 1 priority.
They should add LA to this story....the disease rates have skyrocketed
What about the donkeys?
This is about as true as last week’s article saying that Mexican illegals have no negative impact on America’s healthcare system.
An American would have to be nuts to go to Tijuana and have unprotected sex with a $30 whore. I suppose it’s the heterosexual analog to the bughunters in the gay community. Yuk factor max.
So this feminazi reporterette thinks the johns are putting the infected whores at risk? there’s some typical RAT thinking.
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