Gay Men Meeting Online Contracting Syphilis Faster

Reuters ^ | 06-19-03

[Brian S]

Thu June 19, 2003 11:22 AM ET

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Finding quick sex may be easier than ever because of the Internet, but it is also leading to growth in some sexual diseases, especially among gay men, a San Francisco health official said on Wednesday.

Jeffrey Klausner, director of sexual disease prevention at the city's Department of Public Health, said 38 percent of recent syphilis cases are among people who met online, up from 20 to 25 percent two years ago.

He said getting diseases such as syphilis was more likely when meeting people online than in every day affairs because of the crowd online sex chat rooms attract.

"It is just a lot easier for people to meet partners online, so they are more likely to meet more partners," he said in an interview.

"It brings together what we call high-risk core groups who are particularly interested in having a lot of new partners and ... it is these high-risk core groups that are the first groups to get new infections."

He said researchers had linked the first Internet-related outbreak of syphilis to 1999 around a gay chatroom on AOL called M4M. Syphilis is easily curable with antibiotics but, left untreated, can cause permanent brain and heart damage.

U.S. cities known for their large gay populations such as San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, and Miami have seen sharp increases in syphilis cases recently but have not reached the height seen in 1982 before AIDS tempered promiscuous behavior.

[EdReform]

Bump & Ping

[RAT Patrol]

All I can say is....go back in your bedrooms and see if you can find cures on your own time and your own dime. Feel free to use the Internet.

[Redcloak]

Gay Men Meeting Online Contracting Syphilis Faster

They must not be keeping their anti-virus software up to date.

[Cyber Ninja]

I remember in the early Eighties, when the best advice given to avoid getting AIDS, was to:

"Sit down and keep your mouth shut."

But then, that was my Moms advice on everything!

CB^)

[Smedley]

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Finding quick sex may be easier than ever because of the Internet, but it is also leading to growth in some sexual diseases...

Well, Duh! You think that the Gay male community would have caught on to the correlation between "quick sex" and STDs.

[7 x 77]

You think that the Gay male community would have caught on to the correlation between "quick sex" and STDs.

These are not purposeful people.

[PogySailor]

Sure they have:

Bug Chaser

Not for those with a weak stomach

[lilylangtree]

On the bright side is the numbers of homos may be controlled due to attrition caused by sypilis and most importantly, AIDS. That's one of the reasons they need unhampered access to our children.

[God luvs America]

I re-wrote one of the Beatles tunes...this is sung to the melody of the famous hit "Yesterday"

here we go.....

Syphillis...it only started with a simple kiss.
Now it hurts to even take a piss...oh how did I get syphillis?

Leporsy...all my skin is falling off of me.
I'm not half the man I used to be...oh how did I get leporsy?

(I have several other verses which included "doggie style" and "69" but being this is a family site....)

[Cheapskate]

yeah, i read a story about that a couple of months ago.
those people are truly p.o.s (s)

[Slyfox]

Yuck

[sushiman]

" Sure they have:

Bug Chaser "

This has got to be one of the sickest things I have read in a while . S=I=C=K !

[scripter]

Index ping.