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from Medical Issues
Risky Same-Sex Relationships
Fuel Syphilis Come-Back In Pennsylvania
October 5, 2007 - Public health officials in Pennsylvania are concerned about the spike in syphilis cases in the state. The most recently reported cases are from 2005. The 199 cases that year hit a 20-year high and more than double the 78 cases reported in 2000.
According to health officials, most cases involved men having sex with men from the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia areas. Stephen Kowalewski, a senior public health adviser, however, says that these men do not necessarily consider themselves gay or bisexual. He told local health directors in Harrisburg that the term used to describe this kind of sex is "down low."
Kowalewski says the upward spike of syphilis cases reflects a reduced fear of contracting HIV. On the West Coast, outbreaks of syphilis among men were linked to increased use of crack cocaine and trading sex for drugs.
Kowalewski has invited six counties to participate in a pilot program to find non-traditional means of finding and testing those at risk. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has provided a $200,000 grant to fund the pilot program. According to Kowalewski, "It seems the traditional messages are not completely effective with this population."
Untreated, syphilis can cause headaches, sore throat, fever, rashes, eventual brain damage and death. (Source: The Morning Call, Allentown, Pennsylvania, September 24, 2007)
Additional Reading: Medical Issues.
Updated: 8 February 2008
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