Los Angeles meningitis outbreak hitting the gay commumity

jonn3 · #1 22nd August 2016, 11:14 AM

For those in LA who have not heard there is an outbreak of meningitis that seems to be hitting the gay / bi community.

Health officials are urging gay and bisexual men to get vaccinated for meningitis.

Amid meningitis outbreak, officials urge vaccination — but not for everyone - LA Times

infopop · #2 22nd August 2016, 02:10 PM

For meningitis in a distinct population, this targeted vaccine strategy sounds like a good strategy.

Unfortunately, there's no vaccine for syphilis. Thousands of miles away, there's a report last week about the rise in syphilis in London. This came to me in a Google News Alert with a UK tabloid story, so I searched quickly and found a better source.

The headline speaks for itself: Syphilis cases increase by 163% in London in five years.

I'll excerpt the intro and attach the story in a PDF for those who want it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Guardian

Five times more people were diagnosed with syphilis in London last year than in any other English region, according to a report that says cases of the infection have more than doubled in the capital since 2010.

Nearly 60% of syphilis cases in England were diagnosed in London, according to research published on Wednesday by Public Health England, with rates increasing in 32 of the capital’s 33 boroughs in the five years to 2015.

Gay men were disproportionately affected, experiencing 90% of new diagnoses in 2015, despite comprising just 2% of the adult population. But experts are warning of a rise among heterosexuals as well.

The CDC says it's rising in the US generally among MSM (men-seeking men), increasing 15% from 2013 to 2014 with 83% among MSM. I don't have time now to look up stats for cities like New York or LA and so on, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were reasonably close to London's pattern.

~ Bob S.

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