Free Republic

Sexually transmitted diseases in the U.S. are at a crisis point. On Monday, prominent public health experts and government officials raised an alarm over the ongoing annual rise in STDs. Preliminary data recently released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that cases of syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia all went up last year. This week the CDC and the National Coalition of STD Directors are hosting their regular STD Prevention Conference, which occurs every two years and is virtual this year due to the covid-19 pandemic. But while the conference is intended to highlight promising technological advances and...

Even though President Biden has declared the COVID pandemic to be over, that doesn’t mean that we’ve whipped all of our health issues into submission. Officials at the CDC are now warning of a sharp increase in diseases of another sort. They are reporting double-digit increases in sexually transmitted diseases and we’re not just talking about the new invasion of monkeypox. (Which has thus far managed to kill a grand total of one person in the United States.) Both syphilis and gonorrhea are making a comeback. Reported infections of both have actually been rising for the better part of a...

Sharply rising cases of some sexually transmitted diseases, including a 26% rise in new syphilis infections reported last year, are prompting US health officials to call for new prevention and treatment efforts. ... Infections rates for some STDs, including gonorrhea and syphilis, have been rising for years. Last year the rate of syphilis cases reached its highest since 1991 and the total number of cases hit its highest since 1948. HIV cases are also on the rise, up 16% last year. An international outbreak of monkeypox has further highlighted the nation’s worsening problem with diseases spread mostly through sex. ......

NEW YORK (AP) — Sharply rising cases of some sexually transmitted diseases — including a 26% rise in new syphilis infections reported last year — are prompting U.S. health officials to call for new prevention and treatment efforts. “It is imperative that we ... work to rebuild, innovate, and expand (STD) prevention in the U.S.,” said Dr. Leandro Mena of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a speech Monday at a medical conference on sexually transmitted diseases. Infections rates for some STDs, including gonorrhea and syphilis, have been rising for years. Last year the rate of syphilis...

Sharply rising cases of some sexually transmitted diseases — including a 26% rise in new syphilis infections reported last year — are prompting U.S. health officials to call for new prevention and treatment efforts. “It is imperative that we … work to rebuild, innovate, and expand (STD) prevention in the U.S.,” said Dr. Leandro Mena of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a speech Monday at a medical conference on sexually transmitted diseases. Infections rates for some STDs, including gonorrhea and syphilis, have been rising for years. Last year the rate of syphilis cases reached its highest...

Is Monkey Pox a Sexually Transmitted Infection? https://link.medium.com/7eAfARWvBsb Is Monkey Pox a Sexually Transmitted Infection? By Lao-Tzu Allan-Blitz, MD Chief Resident Physician, Global Health Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Boston Children’s Hospital and Jeffrey D. Klausner, MD, MPH Clinical Professor of Medicine, Infectious Disease, Population and Public Health Sciences, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California Former US CDC Medical Officer Former San Francisco City and County Deputy Health Officer The rapidly developing global outbreak of human monkeypox, declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by the World Health Organization [1], has demonstrated transmission dynamics uncharacteristic of prior...

Since the outset of the global monkeypox outbreak in May, public health and infectious disease experts have told the public that the virus is largely transmitting through skin-to-skin contact, in particular during sex between men. Now, however, an expanding cadre of experts has come to believe that sex between men itself — both anal as well as oral intercourse — is likely the main driver of global monkeypox transmission. The skin contact that comes with sex, these experts say, is probably much less of a risk factor. In recent weeks, a growing body of scientific evidence — including a trio...

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued guidelines instructing the public on how to mitigate the risk of transmitting monkeypox while engaging sexually with a partner. While touting the monkeypox vaccine, CDC recommends anyone with monkeypox abstain from sex. "Vaccination is an important tool in preventing the spread of monkeypox. But given the current limited supply of vaccine, consider temporarily changing some behaviors that may increase your risk of being exposed. These temporary changes will help slow the spread of monkeypox until vaccine supply is adequate,” the federal agency states in its Aug. 5 guidance.”If you or a...

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released data finding the monkeypox outbreak is concentrated among men who have had sex with several men, and issued more detailed recommendations on how to avoid exposure to the disease. Among 291 men surveyed, 40% reported that they had two to four partners and 14% reported five to nine partners in the three weeks before developing monkeypox, according to the report. About 19% reported 10 or more partners during that period, the CDC said Friday. And among 86 men who reported information, 28% said they had had group sex, which is defined as...

The World Health Organization on Wednesday recommended that gay and bisexual men limit their number of sexual partners to protect themselves from monkeypox and help slow transmission of the rapidly spreading virus. The WHO’s monkeypox expert, Rosamund Lewis, said men who have sex with men are the group at the highest risk of infection right now. About 99% of cases are among men, and at least 95% of those patients are men who have sex with men, Lewis said. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it is crucial for public health authorities to engage communities of men who have sex...

The first major peer-reviewed study of monkeypox infections has found that the virus is primarily being transmitted through the sexual activity of gay and bisexual men in the United States and around the world. The Journal of New England Medicine on Thursday published a study that looked at monkeypox infection across 16 countries between April and June, when cases began to emerge in countries outside of Africa. The study reported on 528 infections diagnosed between April 27 and June 24, of which 98 percent were in gay or bisexual men with a median age of 38. Of these cases, 95...

The World Health Organisation says they will reconvene their monkeypox committee to decide on if it should be considered a 'global health emergency'. The UN health agency are now aware of 9,200 cases in 63 countries in the last update issued on Tuesday, with the UK recording 1,735 cases between May 6 and July 11 this year. UK Health Security Agency figures show that the majority were Londoners, with 1,229 reported in the capital. This WHO meeting will be the second for the emergency committee, with experts set to decide on if monkeypox cases constitutes a public health emergency which...

Health officials on Wednesday recommended that men in Florida who have sex with other men get a meningococcal vaccine following what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called "one of the worst outbreaks of meningococcal disease among gay and bisexual men in U.S. history." The CDC said in a statement that there have been at least 24 cases and seven deaths among gay and bisexual men caused by the bacteria in Florida recently. The CDC also recommended that gay and bisexual men traveling to Florida should ask their health care provider about getting the vaccine. "Because of the outbreak...

FILE - This 2003 electron microscope image made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows mature, oval-shaped monkeypox virions, left, and spherical immature virions, right, obtained from a sample of human skin associated with the 2003 prairie dog outbreak. U.S. health officials are expanding the group of people recommended to get vaccinated against the monkeypox virus. They also say they are providing more monkeypox vaccine, working to expand testing, and taking other steps to try to get ahead of the outbreak. (Cynthia S. Goldsmith, Russell Regner/CDC via AP, file) The number of confirmed monkeypox cases in New...

Eligibility: Gay, bisexual and other men (ages 18 and older) who have sex with men and have had multiple or anonymous sex partners in the last 14 days are eligible to receive the vaccine. Vaccination is free and available regardless of immigration status. You should especially consider getting vaccinated if: Your partners are showing symptoms of monkeypox, such as a rash or sores. You met recent partners through online applications or social media platforms (such as Grinder, Tinder or Scruff), or at clubs, raves, sex parties, saunas or other large gatherings.

… Monkeypox, which causes a rash and fever and is fatal in a very small percentage of cases, isn’t nearly as transmissible as Covid-19. But unlike the novel coronavirus, it spreads easily to and from certain animal populations — rodents in particular. If the pox currently circulating in the U.S. spreads to rats, hamsters, or gerbils, and becomes endemic in those species, there might be no easy way to contain it. “I do share the other scientists’ concern of containment and the virus becoming endemic in our U.S. rodent population,” sys Stephanie James, the head of a viral testing lab...

A Missouri woman was awarded $5.2 million in a settlement from insurance company GEICO after contracting a sexually transmitted disease from her partner in his vehicle, which was insured by the company, court documents show. The Missouri Court of Appeals upheld that award this week. The woman, a Jackson County resident, said she contracted Human papillomavirus (HPV) from her partner, according to court documents. On Tuesday, the Missouri Court of Appeals filed an opinion confirming the initial Jackson County Circuit Court arbitration award finding against GEICO. In February 2021, the woman -- anonymously identified in documents as M.O. -- submitted...

A Missouri woman was awarded a $5.2 million settlement against her ex-boyfriend's car insurance company after she claimed that she got a sexually transmitted disease from him after they had sex in his 2014 Hyundai Genesis. On Tuesday, after five years of uncertainty, the Missouri Court of Appeals affirmed. A three-judge panel found that the judgment entered against the insurance giant through earlier arbitration proceedings was valid Court papers obtained by the DailyMail.com reveal that the woman notified GEICO in February 2021 stating that she and the insured had been in a romantic relationship since 2017. The woman told the...

Follow-up question: Is there actually a “new” monkeypox at all or is this the same virus African doctors have been managing for years, suddenly spreading in Europe for reasons that remain unclear?Either way, the trends aren’t great.Confirmed #monkeypox cases now in 11 countries, according to @globaldothealth case tracker. 39 additional cases confirmed so far today. pic.twitter.com/zGPTs9O1gJ— Kristen Panthagani, MD, PhD (@kmpanthagani) May 20, 2022Today’s global cases are double the number recorded on Wednesday. Cases have also doubled in the UK. The virus has been found on at least four continents in the past month, suggesting that something has changed about...

Gonorrhea and syphilis cases reached record levels during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to data released Tuesday from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. The latest figures — part of an ongoing upward trend — follow Congress’ decision last month to provide far less funding to sexual health clinics that provide free and subsidized testing for sexually transmitted diseases, education, contraception and other services than providers say is needed to reverse the current course Gonorrhea cases increased 10 percent in 2020, and syphilis infections were up 7 percent. Congenital syphilis, which had all but disappeared in...