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At a Friday news conference, city health officials said the case marked their first encounter with the strain. The man, who tested positive for HIV in December and is now sick with AIDS, had used the recreational drug crystal methamphetamine and had unprotected anal sex with multiple male partners. He had not responded to three of the four classes of AIDS drugs. Just one case "was not enough to warrant a public health alert," Gallo said in an interview from his Maryland home. "It's irresponsible and outrageous," he said. "We've already heard past claims about superviruses that all turn out...

A rare strain of H.I.V. that is highly resistant to virtually all anti-retroviral drugs and appears to lead to the rapid onset of AIDS was detected in a New York City man last week, city health officials announced on Friday. It was the first time a strain of H.I.V. had been found that both showed resistance to multiple drugs and led to AIDS so quickly, the officials said. While the extent of the disease's spread is unknown, officials called a news conference to say that the situation is alarming. "We consider this a major potential problem," said Dr. Thomas R....

A new, highly resistant strain of HIV that appears to develop rapidly into AIDS has been diagnosed in a New Yorker who had not previously undergone antiviral drug treatment, says the city health department, which is holding a press conference today. While drug resistance is increasingly common in people who have been treated for the human immunodeficiency virus, city officials called the case “extremely rare.” The patient, who now has AIDS, is a male in his mid-40s who reported multiple male sex partners and unprotected anal intercourse, often while using crystal methamphetamine. The patient appears to have developed AIDS within...

Homosexual Males Award Us Again Saltnlight Feb 8, 2005 So you thought AIDS was the worst of it? Think again. Now there is LVG among men who have sex with men. This stems from Chlamydia and is just in it's beginnings in New York where there has been 2 cases thus far. It's medical name is Lymphogranuloma venereum and has been seen most in tropical climates until recently when 92 cases of it were reported in the Netherlands in one year. I wonder why???? According to New York's Department of mental health and hygiene commissioner, Dr Thomas Frieden this disease...

POP star Andy Bell says he always WANTED to be HIV positive. The gay Erasure singer, 40, revealed he is HIV positive last month — six years after diagnosis. And in a new interview he says: “You are going to think this strange, but I wanted to be HIV positive. I thought HIV was a touchstone of being gay. “But I’m a fighter. They will have to take me from this world kicking and screaming.” Bandmate Vince Clarke, 44, insisted Bell’s diagnosis did not change anything. He said: “I had no fear this was the end. “I have other friends...

NEW YORK : Two New York men have been diagnosed with a rare sexually transmitted disease that has recently been making inroads among gay and bisexual men in Europe. The disease, a rare form of chlamydia known as lymphogranuloma venereum, or LGV, can cause serious illness, permanent disfigurement and fuel the spread of AIDS, according to New York health officials. "LGV is a serious condition and its emergence in New York City reflects continuing high levels of unsafe sexual activity among men who have sex with men," said the city's health commissioner Thomas Frieden. "It is also critical for gay...

Erasure star Andy Bell has shockingly admitted he wanted to be diagnosed with HIV. The openly homosexual singer revealed he was HIV positive in December - six years after he was diagnosed with the fatal disease - and admits he believed catching the illness was a re-affirmation of his homosexuality. He said: "You are going to think this strange, but I wanted to be HIV positive. I thought HIV was a touchstone of being gay." The 'Breathe' singer also says he doesn't think about dying, because he believes he can fight the disease for many years with the help of...

Bug chasers and gift givers probably can't hurt you. But they're trying to kill each other. You've probably heard of neither. And you probably couldn't fathom their taste in an astoundingly risky sexual behavior. Bug chasers are HIV-negative gay men hoping to contract the virus. Gift givers are HIV-positive homosexuals who enjoy obliging bug chasers. It's no urban myth. They're real - and they're here. You might think such a thing possible in San Francisco and New York. But bug chasers and gift givers practice their lethal thrill-seeking locally. "We have bathhouses in Chicago and we have adult bookstores in...

JONATHAN M. PERRY has never been shy about being identified as gay at Johnson C. Smith University, a historically black college here. He tells anyone who asks, and plenty who don't. At 6-foot-2 and a trim 150 pounds, he's hard to miss. He sometimes paints his fingernails and toenails black and wears flip-flops so no one will miss the fashion statement. He has an ''I Like Your Boyfriend'' T-shirt. ''I don't believe in having any skeletons in any closets,'' he explains. So Mr. Perry was a logical choice to speak at a sorority-sponsored forum on AIDS during his sophomore year....

AIDS rate for homosexuals climbs; data called 'astonishing'Dec 2, 2004By Michael FoustNASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--New statistics showing that homosexual men make up 44 percent of all new HIV and AIDS cases underscore the fact that homosexuality itself is unnatural, a prominent leader in the ex-homosexual community says. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released data Dec. 2 showing that the number of newly diagnosed HIV and AIDS cases has increased 11 percent among homosexual men. The data spanned a four-year period ending in 2003. Despite the fact that homosexual men make up only 1 to 2 percent of the population,...

ATLANTA, Dec. 1--A rise in new cases of AIDS and HIV infection among gay and bisexual men in many U.S. states, reported in a federal study Wednesday, has given support for concerns the disease is resurgent in the country. The report by the Centers for Disease control and Prevention, released in connection with World AIDS Day, said new HIV and AIDS diagnoses in 32 U.S. states rose 11 percent among gay and bisexual men between 2000 and 2003. Rates were stable among most other population sectors, and the overall infection rate rose to 19.7 cases per 100,000 people in 2003...

...Medical experts are observing the emergence of a relatively new strain [of Staph infections], known as community-acquired MRSA, among gay and bisexual men, athletes, prisoners and Native Americans. Since a staph outbreak among gay men in Los Angeles in early 2003, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention identified five major factors that facilitate the transmission of the infection: close contact, crowding, cleanliness, contaminated items and surfaces, and compromised skin integrity, said Nicole Coffin, a CDC spokesperson. The compromised skin integrity category includes tiny abrasions that may occur during "manscaping" -- the cosmetic shaving of body parts popular with some...

'Not a simple answer' for desert’s syphilis problem By Brian Joseph The Desert SunPALM SPRINGS -- 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,...

Antibiotic-resistant strain of syphilis is spreading A fast-spreading mutant strain of syphilis has proved resistant to the antibiotic pills that are offered to some patients as an alternative to painful penicillin shots. Since the late 1990s, doctors and public health clinics have been giving azithromycin to some syphilis patients because the long-acting antibiotic pill was highly effective and easy to use. Four pills taken at once were usually enough to cure syphilis. But now researchers at University of Washington in Seattle have found at least 10 percent of syphilis samples from patients at sexually transmitted disease clinics in four cities...

HIV infections rise among gays More and more young homosexuals forget about the risks of AIDS By Peter-Philipp Schmitt Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung The test had been long overdue. But Tim decided to have it done once he realized that he had another problem anyway. “I only went because I had contracted syphilis,“ he says. The results were not the news Tim wanted to hear: He had HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Around Germany, increasing numbers of young German homosexuals like Tim are learning that they, too, are carrying around the deadly virus. While the number of new infections has...

Guest CommentaryA Pharmacist's View on Gay MarriageBy J.R. Schoenle, Pharm.D. June 29, 2004(AgapePress) - Having worked with AIDS patients and investigational drug studies for HIV at Johns Hopkins Hospital, I feel a lot of compassion for homosexual persons. But as a professional health care provider, I am compelled to educate people with medical facts regarding same-sex marriage. This is not a "privacy" issue. Gay activists have brought the gay lifestyle into the public square with their demands for "marriage" or "civil union." (The public has not gone into anyone's bedroom; rather, they have brought their bedroom issues out in...

(CNSNews.com) - Several homosexual advocacy groups are closed on Friday for a day of mourning -- but they won't be mourning President Ronald Reagan. Equality California, which is fighting to legalize same-sex marriage, announced that it would join the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in closing its offices on June 11, 2004 in memory of the millions of people who have died of AIDS. "As California's state-wide LGBT advocacy organization, whose roots come out of the AIDS pandemic, we are closing in honor of our brothers and sisters who died as a result of President Reagan's silence and failure...

Health Many HIV-Positive Men Don't Realize It: Study By Randy Dotinga HealthDay Reporter WEDNESDAY, June 2 (HealthDayNews) -- A new British report suggests that one in 10 homosexual men who visit popular gay venues in London are infected with the AIDS virus, and a third of them don't realize it. In another disturbing finding, the researchers found the percentage of gay men who admitted engaging in the most dangerous form of unsafe sex increased at a fast clip over the four-year study period. The numbers won't come as a surprise to American researchers, who have been tracking similar trends in...

A drug-resistant form of gonorrhea with an overwhelmingly disproportionate effect on homosexuals is making its way eastward from Hawaii and California, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. The data presented "show that drug resistant gonorrhea is a rapidly emerging health concern, particularly for gay and bisexual men," the CDC's STD prevention director John Douglas told reporters last week. Incidences of the drug-resistant disease are 12 times higher for homosexual and bisexual men than for other men, based on data acquired in clinics from 30 U.S. cities between 2002 and 2003, the Washington Blade reported. Homosexual men...

In 1998, syphilis rates were so low the Centers for Disease Control announced a plan to completely eliminate the disease. The agency began an all-out prevention campaign, stepping up syphilis surveillance in New York City and the few counties across the country where it still existed. By 2000, the sexually transmitted infection was at its lowest point since 1941. Soon, the country's top doctors predicted, the dread illness that afflicted Henry VIII, Ivan the Terrible, and even a pope would be nothing more than an unpleasant memory, gone the way of smallpox and other eradicated diseases. But just six years...