Diverse activists and allies lobby Albany for LGBT causes, including GENDA and Marriage Equality. But that’s not the real power of Equality & Justice Day.
An emotional West Village vigil marks the national Day of Silence and a slain teenager.
Aesthetic Realists wrest $4,000 in state funds for a program that allegedly teaches art to Brooklyn senior citizens. But the group has a history of “converting” gays to heterosexuals.
War, the economy and health care matter more to a majority of LGB voters.
advertisement
advertisement
|
By TRENTON STRAUBE
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Syphilis cases in New York City spiked 62 percent last year, rising from 560 cases in 2006 to 927. The cases are almost exclusively among men.
“This is another piece of evidence that men are having sex with men in an unsafe manner,” said Dr. Susan Blank, assistant commissioner for Sexually Transmitted Disease Prevention and Control at the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, which tabulated the preliminary data.
A DOHMH report last fall found that HIV infections among men younger than 30 who have sex with men (MSM) increased 33 percent in six years to a total of 499 cases in 2006 (overall, HIV rates dropped in New York during that same period).
The median age of men with syphilis last year was 35. In 2006, it was 34.
The ethnic breakdown of the 2007 syphilis cases among men is as follows: white–213 cases, black–273, Hispanic–212, and other/unknown–191.
Manhattan accounted for 43.9 percent of the cases, Brooklyn for 27.2 percent, Queens for 15.5, Bronx for 12.5 and Staten Island for 0.9 percent. In Manhattan, most cases were reported in Chelsea, Greenwich Village, Union Square, the Upper West Side and Washington Heights. In Queens, most occurred in Astoria, Jamaica and West Queens. In Brooklyn: Crown Heights, Downtown Heights and East Flatbush. And in the Bronx: Crotona, Morrisania and Fordham.
The 2007 data support DOHMH findings from last summer. In July the department released an advisory that syphilis had doubled the first quarter of 2007. In response, Gay Men’s Health Crisis unveiled an advertising campaign titled “Syphilis Is Creeping Up” in local gay media to educate the public. The campaign still appears.
During a previous Blade interview, officials from both GMHC and Callen-Lorde Community Health Center, which cater to the LGBT population, confirmed that they see cases of syphilis on a weekly basis.
“The department of health is concerned about syphilis because when any STD rises in the community, it generally means that people might be having more unprotected sex,” Dr. Gal Mayer, medical director at the Callen-Lorde said. “The big concern with that is about HIV transmission.”
Dr. Blank also noted that correlation. “The presence of one STD [sexually transmitted disease] makes it easier to get or spread HIV or another STD,” she said. According to DOHMH, 57 percent of the men with syphilis in 2007 were also HIV-positive.
The health department tries to interview every person who tests positive for syphilis, to ensure he or she gets proper treatment, to help notify infected partners and to learn about behavior patterns.
Through these interviews, DOHMH learned that 75.8 percent of men with syphilis identified as MSM, 10 percent as bisexual and 9.4 percent as heterosexual (4.5 percent were unknown).
Unlike past syphilis outbreaks in the city—cases skyrocketed in the late ’80s because of the crack epidemic, for example—MSM bear the brunt of the recent uptick.
The health department requires all syphilis cases be reported, whether from a private provider or a public clinic.
Syphilis Facts
Syphilis is caused by a spiral-shaped bacterium called Treponema pallidum. It is spread by skin-to-skin contact and is easily treated with antibiotics, often a single injection of penicillin.
Unlike the rapid test for HIV, which offers results within minutes using a saliva sample, the test for syphilis requires drawing blood that must be sent to a lab. Health department clinics in each borough, GMHC and Callen-Lorde all offer free and confidential testing.
Syphilis usually occurs in three stages. During the primary stage, about 10 days after contact, people develop a sore that is often painless but is highly infectious. It could appear on the genitals, in the anus, even the throat. The sore will heal on its own.
In the secondary stage, 6–10 weeks after exposure, a rash often appears on the trunk, arms and legs, specifically the palms of the hands or the soles of the feet.
Like the initial sore, the rash will resolve on its own. The disease then becomes dormant and returns 15-30 years later and can cause serious neurological infection of the brain, leading to stroke, dementia, headaches and blindness. People with HIV and syphilis may develop these symptoms earlier.
A condom reduces risk, but it is possible to get syphilis while practicing safe sex, even oral sex.
To further protect yourself from sexually transmitted infections, the health department recommends limiting the number of sexual partners, avoiding alcohol and drugs when you have sex and knowing your sex partners.
Because of its many symptoms, syphilis is nicknamed The Great Imitator. It is also possible to carry the disease and not show any symptoms.
“The truth is, with syphilis, there may not be apparent signs or symptoms,” Blank said, “especially if they are rectal symptoms because they’re painless an you can’t see them.”
That is why doctors recommend sexually active MSM have an blood test for the disease every six months.
|
