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Health officials are warning that the rise of life-threatening sexually transmitted infections (STIs) is “out of control.” According to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, STIs are on a worrying rise putting millions of people’s lives at risk from entirely preventable infections. “STIs must be a public health priority,” the CDC warned on Tuesday. The health agency noted that “the most alarming concerns” revolve around syphilis cases — which are at the highest level they’ve been in more than seven decades. Reported chlamydia cases have remained at a record high level but gonorrhea cases did decline...

Anyone can become ill from mpox, but the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that more than 99% of mpox cases in the United States in the 2022 outbreak have been among men who have sex with men. However, mpox is not generally considered a sexually transmitted disease.

(Translation) Department of Health Chief Medical Officer Dr. Iris Cardona indicated that some additional monkeypox cases in Puerto Rico were due to dating apps. “The United States already has over 700 cases, but analysis of the first 300 identified the majority being men. Most of them had the number-one epidemiological criterion, that being participating in activities involving intimate contact, very close or sexual contact, any of the two, particularly men having sex with men, and also invitations on the different platforms within social media to meet people and engage in very close relations or close contact with these people who...

"Hahon (1961) endeavoured to infect Macaca irus, obtained from the Philippines, by the aerosol route (mass median diameter less than 5 ,u), using viruses of variola major and minor, vaccinia virus, monkey- pox virus, cowpox virus, and rabbitpox virus. An elevation of temperature occurred with all the pox virus infections; after 3 days with vaccinia and rabbitpox; after 4 days with variola major and minor and monkeypox; and after 6 days with cow- pox. Coughing, coryza and anorexia were observed in the monkeys exposed to vaccinia, rabbitpox and monkeypox viruses, but not in the monkeys exposed to smallpox. Mild dermal...

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday alerted gay and bisexual men that monkeypox appears to be spreading in the community globally, cautioning people to take precautions if they have been in close contact with someone who may have the virus and to be on the lookout for symptoms. Dr. John Brooks, a CDC official, emphasized that anyone can contract monkeypox through close personal contact regardless of sexual orientation. However, Brooks said many of the people affected globally so far are men who identify as gay or bisexual. Though they may have greater chance of exposure to monkeypox...

Rise of drug resistance in MSM Shigellosis is a common diarrheal disease caused by Shigella bacteria, which is highly contagious and is passed through a fecal-oral route. Shigella infection often occurs from eating food contaminated by people with shigellosis, and is associated with travel to disease-endemic areas, crowding, poverty, and attendance at daycare centers. But Shigella infections can also be spread through oral-anal sex, and research indicates men who have sex with men (MSM) are more likely than the general adult population to acquire shigellosis. Of even greater concern, a recent study from the CDC detailed evidence of rising resistance...

AS cases of meningitis, a rare and potentially fatal disease, popped up in cities nationwide over the past several years, public health officials noticed a trend: many of those infected were gay men. There’s no known medical reason why meningitis, which is transmitted through saliva, would spread more among gay and bisexual men. Yet New York, Chicago and now Southern California have experienced outbreaks disproportionately affecting that population. “It is perplexing,” said Dr. Rachel Civen, a medical epidemiologist at L.A. County’s Department of Public Health. Of the 13 cases of meningitis this year in L.A. County — excluding Long Beach,...

He continues to battle a nicotine addiction and has spent a small fortune keeping his records private – including his medical history. Though viewed as the picture of health in 2008, Barack Obama appeared more gaunt the following year and since then weight fluctuations became more numerous and more dramatic as a chameleon-like cycle of a man who shows up looking drastically different than he did just weeks prior. Rumors of heavy makeup for public appearances to mask “skin discoloration issues” have persisted for a number of years, as has the ongoing speculation of what was the true nature of...

More than 80 lawmakers have called on the Obama administration to allow gay men to donate blood. The lawmakers say the administration should change what they say is an "outdated" policy. Eighty-two lawmakers in the House and Senate signed on to the letter, including Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). Enzi was the only Republican to sign the letter. They said Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius should re-evaluate blood donation criteria that ban gay men from donating blood for life.

Surrounded by cheering, clapping gay-rights activists and legislators, Governor Deval Patrick today signed a bill repealing a 95-year-old statute that had prevented gay and lesbian couples from most other states from marrying in Massachusetts. "It's a good day," said Patrick, declaring that the repeal will "confirm a simple truth: that is, in Massachusetts, equal means equal." Massachusetts will "continue to lead the way as a national leader" and affirm "all people come before their government as equals," Patrick said in a bill-signing ceremony at the State House's Grand Staircase. Gay marriage "is still troubling for some of our citizens," he...

Psychologists to Review Policy on Homosexuality by Jennifer Mesko, associate editor Focus on the Family, others urge APA to consider faith of patients. Beginning next week, a task force set up by the American Psychological Association (APA) will begin reviewing the organization's 10-year-old policy on homosexuality, which opposes counseling that treats same-sex attraction as a mental illness, but does not forbid various therapies that address unwanted same-sex attraction. Focus on the Family has joined more than 250 pro-family organizations and individuals in urging the APA to recognize the religious beliefs of clients and to allow those who struggle with unwanted...

WASHINGTON — For more than a decade, gay rights advocates have grumbled about a federal policy that forbids blood donation by men who have had sex with men. They say that the policy, originally intended to keep HIV-positive blood from entering the nation's blood supply, implies gay men are inherently ill and that it prevents healthy people from donating. Occasional protests and talks with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which oversees blood banks, have brought no change. Now, some college students have taken up the cause, and they're taking a new tack. Instead of pressuring the FDA directly, they...

Gays faced with new STD strains By JACOB GOLDSTEIN jgoldstein@herald.com In the past five years, without much fanfare, a syphilis epidemic has emerged among gay men in South Florida and around the country. Nationwide, rates of drug-resistant gonorrhea have risen rapidly in gay men. And a rare form of chlamydia has spread among gay men in Europe, moved to Canada and New England, and may have made its way to South Florida. Syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia are all curable, but they can be painful and, if not treated promptly, can cause long-term damage. And having a sexually transmitted disease makes...

Gay men should be able to donate blood, students say College group pressures Red Cross By STEVEN BODZIN Los Angeles Times July 11. 2005 8:06AM WASHINGTON - For more than a decade, gay rights advocates have grumbled about a federal policy that forbids blood donation by men who have had sex with men. They say that the policy, originally intended to keep HIV-positive blood from entering the nation's blood supply, implies gay men are inherently sick and that it prevents healthy people from donating. Occasional protests and talks with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which oversees blood banks, have...

ATLANTA -- The United States has reached an AIDS milestone, but not the one the government intended. This was to be the year that federal health officials slashed the country's annual rate of 40,000 new HIV infections in half. Instead, the government said Monday the infection rate has remained the same and that for the first time since the height of the epidemic in the 1980s there are 1 million Americans living with HIV. In part, it's a testament to the powerful medicines keeping so many people alive. After nearly a quarter-century of battling AIDS, much more is known about...

In an eerily similar way to how HIV/AIDS was first spread, a heretofore rare sexually transmitted disease some are calling the "new AIDS" is making its way through the male homosexual community in Canada and the U.S. According to a report in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, lymphogranuloma venereum, or LGV, has been identified in 22 homosexual and bisexual men in Canada in recent months, all of whom practice risky sexual behavior – including anal sex without a condom, ingesting the drug crystal meth anally and "fisting." Six cases have been identified in Boston, Mass., reports the Associated Press, while...

A lesson in AIDS/HIV has a Saugus family seeing red after their second-grader took home an explicit workbook noting that "semen" and "vaginal secretions" spread the disease. The Saugus case is the second time in a week parents have complained that schools are giving young kids more than they need to know on sensitive issues. Paul Stamatopoulos came forward after hearing of a Lexington father who was arrested after he complained when his kindergartener brought home a book that dealt with gay marriage. Stamatopoulos was dumbfounded when his 7-year-old daughter showed him what she called the "sad book." "I took...

Everthing you thought you knew about AIDS is about to change!

The intro is worth listening to, but not strictly necessary. Each audio file speaks for itself.

By Amy Norton NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Many young gay and bisexual men who are HIV-positive may not know they have the virus, according to U.S. health officials. Their study of more than 5,600 men between the ages of 15 and 29 found that more than three-quarters of those who tested positive for HIV were unaware they were infected. Moreover, before being tested, a majority of these men thought themselves at low risk of having the AIDS virus, and half had had unprotected sex with another man during the previous 6 months.