There is a mutation, CCR5 delta 32, which provides the bearer with immunity against most HIV strains. The downside of the mutation is that it lessens the bearer's resistance to a class of viruses called flaviviruses. These viruses include Zika, dengue, yellow fever and west Nile.

All in all, I'd rather be resistant to the whole host of encephalitis viruses than HIV. Safe sex is easier to do than avoiding mosquitoes.

See wikipedia for more information.

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Thanks for mentioning that. I found Wikipedia page for those who are interested but don't want to search.

Speaking of mutations, late last night I saw NBC's Zika Virus Mutation May Explain Spread: Study. This explains in lay terms how Zika has evolved to make people who get it feel sicker than patients years ago and also the big increase in birth defects as well as neurological issues such as Guillain-Barré Syndrome, encephalitis, meningitis, etc.

The icing on the cake was in the CDC's Weekly Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report of April 15 which finally revealed that the very first case of sexually-transmitted Zika, which we learned about in early February was actually, as the CDC puts it, "Male-to-Male Sexual Transmission of Zika Virus — Texas, January 2016."

I understand that with the high number of birth defects in Brazil and neighboring countries the publicity would concentrate on warnings with respect to pregnant women and women in childbearing years.

However, it does seem at least a bit negligent that no one outright even mentioned male-to-male sex in connection with Zika until now. Even the CDC's "Guidance" page about sexual transmission of Zika seems somewhat circumspect.

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One more thing, then I must move on to work on our Home Page update I was unable to complete last night. Just now I looked at the CDC Fact Sheet: What Gay, Bisexual and Other Men Who Have Sex with Men Need to Know About Sexually Transmitted Diseases.

As of today, it has not yet been updated to include Zika. The page was last updated in November, 2015. I wrote to the CDC just now using their email form to suggest that they update this page and similar ones on their web site.

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There are so many things to be aware of now...

I remember as a teen a buddy who used to say it was safer with a guy because he could not get pregnant...

As if that was the only issue in the world....

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There is also this from the Guardian a few days ago: Doctors fear spread of 'super-gonorrhoea' across Britain.

I'm planning to post separately about the subject but simply haven't had the time.

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Actually, at one point in time, this really was the ONLY issue. Few shots of penicillin were going to take are of everything else anyway.

Now, pregnancy used to be a far more serious issue. Single mom, a kid born out of the wedlock, years of paying alimony, risking possibly illegal and costly abortions... All of those weighed in heavily on the minds of both young men and women in their time and day.

Condoms came in handily. The pill, too. Yet, a few of my buddies were truly scared that their GFs were trying to lasso them into either marriage or serious alimony payments... Hence, messing around with another dude, 'forbidden fruit' as it used to be, was practically a safer, easier, more efficient option for many a needy dude out there.

KD

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And my growing up in a college town in the 70's there were lots of places that would provide condoms and STD testing and treatment "no questions asked" even if you were under 18 so your parents would not know.

One buddy who I had fooled around with in the past got a girl pregnant in high school - they ended the pregnancy and no one ever knew - but for awhile after that it scared him away from the girls team and back to the guys!

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Incidentally, with the Tax Day Floods last week, more rain over the weekend, rain coming tomorrow and supposedly this coming weekend, and with temperatures starting to move toward our six-month-long hot and sticky summer, Zika is coming back in our local Houston news. One of the TV stations

The flooding actually remains in some areas days after the rains are gone, although at least this isn't a Katrina. Then there's the places which might have been cleared of standing water which now are filled again. We do have the first local case of a pregnant woman testing positive for Zika. She had lived in El Salvador and came here earlier this year, but more local infections are simply a matter of time.

It's a curious coincidence that she's being treated at Legacy, which is the large merged successor to the Montrose Clinic originally founded as Houston's gay men's STD clinic in 1978.

The same station's big promo for their late news was coverage of Zika in light of the flooding. I won't have time to watch it but I'll have to remember to look for it later. I rather prefer reading to watching anyhow.

I could write on - my back yard waterfall/pond malfunctioned and turned into big algae-filled puddle - but I have work to do tonight. The pond will be there tomorrow. And the rain.

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The South has been inundated with rain and other severe weather the last few years -

I can't even imagine what it will be like as the effects of climate change continue to grow...

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We have been repeatedly warned to expect a Katrina-like storm sooner or later. Ours would not cause a bowl of standing water, but instead floods along bayous and - more importantly - an environmental disaster larger than the Gulf Oil Spill with the refineries and petrochemical plants along Galveston Bay and the Houston Ship Channel.

I could rattle on, but better get to work...

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For what it's worth: WHO Issues Stricter Safe-Sex Guidelines to Prevent Zika (NBCNews).

From spokesman Christian Lindmeier: As always with Zika, they appropriately focus on pregnancies and possible birth defects. As you know, this is also important for men who have unprotected sex with anyone, male or female, who may have been exposed to Zika. The disease may cause numerous neurological symdromes/conditions/etc., as we've discussed.

In the Greater Houston area we've had massive rains and flooding continuing at times through May, including this last weekend and today. I expect local mosquito-borne transmission of Zika to be reported soon, if it hasn't been already. I imagine other Gulf Coast cities and South Atlantic cities from Brownsville to at least Jacksonville are in the same position.

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So the State of Texas has started airing PSAs (Public Service Announcements) about Zika on our TV stations. They mention this web site, Zika in Texas. The English and Spanish videos are on YouTube along with various informational PDFs on the Texas Zika site.

We're told to expect another 10" of rain in the next few days. Several area rivers are at historic flood levels, above the levels of April 2016 or May 2015. A Facebook friend reminded me that mosquitoes still breed when it rains.

There's been occasional very short power outages, too, mainly during storms. There's a thunderstorm as I write this.

Onward and upward...

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There are new developments with Zika in the Continental US. I don't have time today to post links, but a summary is below.

We know that Zika is sexually transmitted through semen and possibly saliva and is important for men who have sex with both women and men.

In addition to the well-publicized birth defects associated with Zika, there is also the lesser possibility of Zika causing nervous system disorders and diseases in adults, both men and women.

Other STDs such as HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea are better known and have better public education. Although I plan to add a page about sexual health to CFS, it's important today to draw the extra attention of "men-seeking-men" to Zika in addition to the health issues you already know about.

Zika may affect you, someone you have sex with, or even a child you may father.

1. An elderly man in Utah recently died. Postmortem examination showed extremely high levels of the Zika virus in his blood. A caregiver / family member contracted Zika. This was not a case of sexual transmission nor a mosquito bite. Health officials are investigating. The most likely theory is that the virus was passed through a body fluid, possibly blood through an accidental needle stick or something similar.
   
2. A Zika case was reported in Miami-Dade County that is said to be not linked to travel to a Zika-affected area. This is one of the US cities most likely to see mosquito-borne transmission of Zika. Again, health officials are investigating.

Please watch the news for further developments.

~ Bob S.

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It is sad how short the attention span is for the US News outlets -

Zika is still a growing issue but is hardly talked about now - and usually only in the context of the Olympics.

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