Drop in Syphilis Infection Rate Raises Hopes for Elimination (NY Times, registration required) The rate of syphilis infection in the United States fell to a new low last year [...] Cook County, which includes Chicago, had the highest rate with 6.3 cases per 100,000 people. [...] Syphilis is 21 times more common among blacks and 3 times more common in Hispanics than it is among whites. The agency also said it was concerned about syphilis outbreaks among men who had sex with men. Studies show that up to 70 percent of gay and bisexual men with syphilis will test positive for H.I.V.
And none of that is terribly surprising, really. Almost all infectious diseases are higher in minority communities (although I believe the difference drops somewhat when you control for income and education -- logically enough). And syphilis is a rather strong indicator of unsafe sex -- it's one of the diseases that condoms protect against. Given the rather sharp differential, I would expect that in a few years, syphilis will become purely a disease of the underclasses.
Copyright © 2001, Iain Jackson, after-words.org
[Archives: 2001 and after]
Archives before February 5, 2001
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12/19/2001: vive la france
12/19/2001: princess, redux
12/19/2001: yemen and rumsfeld
12/18/2001: you're NOT in the army now
12/18/2001: interesting donation
12/18/2001: shame on winn dixie, indeed
12/18/2001: saudi princess
12/17/2001: new resolve
12/17/2001: a victim of the attack ... yeah, right
12/17/2001: polluters ho!