Posted on 02/26/2003 5:04:36 AM PST by kattracks
(CNSNews.com) - Public health officials in California are alerting male homosexuals to the dangers of a new skin infection that is communicable during sex, but some activists charge they're not doing enough to prevent its spread.
The San Francisco Health Department has sent out informational bulletins on methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), or "staph," to chiropractors, masseurs and gymnasium and sex-club operators, alerting them to increases of the infection. Officials also have held informational forums at homosexual community centers.
More recently, Los Angeles health officials also have identified an increase in MRSA among male homosexuals.
Officials, however, can't provide numbers of staph infections because MRSA is not a reportable disease in California.
"We've heard anecdotally that there are increases, but we haven't been able to substantiate it," said Colleen Johnson, a San Francisco Health Department spokeswoman. "We will be creating a surveillance system in the next couple of months, but it will take a while in order to have enough data for it to be accurate."
The Health Department is working with the University of California, local health authorities and doctors to prevent the infections from spreading, she said.
Michael Petrelis, a longtime AIDS activist, said the Health Department in San Francisco is failing to control staph infections as it has failed to control other sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV infections.
"We've had a doubling of syphilis cases; gonorrhea is up, and now, we have a new drug-resistant staph infection. To me, it says the Health Department in 'San Frisco' is a failure," Petrelis said.
Drug-resistant staph is not new, but this strain is more contagious because it produces a toxin that is passed through the skin, experts said.
"What's new is that some of these are being spread by skin-to-skin infections, and the skin-to-skin contact seems to be of a sexual nature," said Dr. John Diggs, a medical consultant to the Family Research Council.
"The difference is that this is treatable and that it can be spread through more casual contact. It doesn't have to be contact of a sexual nature," he added.
However, the disease could spread rapidly among homosexual men, who have high rates of sexual promiscuity, Diggs said.
Doctors are not accustomed to seeing this type of infection in their offices, Diggs said. It's the kind of infection they expect to see in patients who might be hospitalized or who are otherwise debilitated with diabetes or chemotherapy, he said.
Since early last summer, for example, the San Francisco Health Department has identified an increasing number of patients with soft tissue infections among city jail inmates, the department reported.
The infections can cause pneumonia and bladder, skin and blood infections. In some cases, the disease can be fatal, doctors report.
But in order to control an epidemic, officials need to have some idea what the incidence is, "and they're not doing anything to find out what the incidence is," Diggs said.
"The problem from the beginning is that most of these sexually transmitted diseases have been treated as political issues rather than public health issues," he said.
"The approach they're taking is you treat people, and if they don't get better, then you test them for MRSA," he said.
"There could be people you treat who do get better who still have MRSA. To have MRSA doesn't mean it's not treatable. What it means is it's not treatable by the common methicillin-type antibiotics," he said.
While no official figures are available on the number of staph infections, one San Francisco doctor estimated the city's cases number between 200 and 300.
E-mail a news tip to Lawrence Morahan.
Send a Letter to the Editor about this article.
To me it says that you are a bunch of sick freaks.
Then again, it is probably against some kind of law to question whether someone is a sexual deviant.
Does anyone have the latest statistics on how many AIDS cases are of indeterminate origin? The figure I heard several years ago was that about 5% of all AIDS cases could not be traced to tainted blood, sexual activity or health care workers being infected by contamiinated materials.
It is hard to fathom how "activists" are criticizing health officials for "not doing enough to prevent" the spread of this new disease when it is the ones engaging in that perverted behavior who are the blame.
If they want to stop the disease then all they need to do is sit down and shut up.
Well, no...You see, it's all the conservative/GOP government's fault.
The original English researcher, Alexander Fleming, got lucky and was observant. He was culturing staph bacteria for study and found a petri dish that been contaminated with mold and noticed that the mold was killing the bacteria somehow.
The rotten fruit part was later (during World War II) when engineers in the US were trying to find a mold strain that would work well in huge industrial sized processes (apparently the original mold did not produce enough).
Try a google search on "fleming" and "penicillin" and you will get more than enough reading.
Isn't it pretty much the last gun in antibiotics? VRSA is a very bad thing - there's nothing left in the arsenal to fight that one.
This stuff stays viable on inanimate objects for a good period of time.
Many homosexuals have compromised their own immune systems with recreational drugs (including nitrate poppers), handfuls of antibiotics indiscriminately, (so they can play)then wonder why they acquire all these nasty bugs? You can't do much to educate, much less intervene with people who are willfully ignorant of their own responsibilities.
I couldn't have phrased it better. *chuckle*
A very compelling book to read is, "Inventing The AIDS Virus" by Dr.Peter H. Duesberg, which was written in 1995. (He is a leading microbiologist an a pioneer in the discovery of the HIV family of viruses.} Basically, AIDS is too well-funded (a proverbial cash cow) that researchers don't want to let go of.
Magic Johnson refused conventional treatment when he was diagnosed with AIDS....preferring to take natural treatments to boost his immune system. He has now been certified as "cured". I have an Uncle that died from AIDS 2yrs after diagnosis and going through the prescribed drugs and treatments. His son has AIDS as well, but has lived for 15 yrs without treatment. Coincidence? Could be.... but it has my attention.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.