Gays: More cases of rare disease
NR/HI | 13.02.2005 08:18 | Education | Gender | Health | London | World
Lymphogranuloma venereum, or LGV, is a form of chlamydia that can damage the bowels and scar the anus. Among the few patients that have been identified in the United States, most also had the AIDS virus.
Homosexual/Bisexual - Health issues
GAYS: More cases of rare disease
Two cases of rare disease
11:13 2005-02-03
A rare sexually transmitted disease that can scar the genitals has been found in two patients in New York, and the strain is the same as that recently detected in Europe, the city's health commissioner said Wednesday.
Lymphogranuloma venereum, or LGV, is a form of chlamydia that can damage the bowels and scar the anus. Among the few patients that have been identified in the United States, most also had the AIDS virus, Health Department Commissioner Thomas Frieden said at a news conference.
"We know LGV increases the risk of the spread of HIV because it causes ulcers and bleeding," he said.
Frieden said the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier confirmed three LGV cases in San Francisco and one in Atlanta. He said gay and bisexual men were urged to abstain from sex or limit their number of sex partners and use condoms.
Unprotected anal intercourse is the key risk factor for the spread of LGV. Symptoms include painful rectal infections, but the first symptom may be a painless pimple or lesion on the genitals, tells the Seattle Post.
The cases are among the first reported in the United States and match a strain of the disease that only began to surface in Europe in recent years.
The disease, lymphogranuloma venereum, known as LGV, is a rare form of chlamydia that can cause acute illness, lifelong disability and disfigurement as well as fuel the spread of H.I.V./AIDS through open sores. A majority of those infected, both in Europe and the United States, have been gay men who engage in anal intercourse.
Health officials would not go into detail about the two infected men in New York except to say the cases appeared unrelated.
Some of the symptoms may have showed up in doctors' examinations, but they were not connected to the disease until further lab tests were performed by health officials on the federal and local levels, publishes the New York Times.
NR
Pravda.RU: Science and Culture
http://newsfromrussia.com/science/2005/02/03/58063.html
See also:
[1] Plague and flu change history of the world - 01/27/2005
http://english.pravda.ru/printed.html?news_id=14884
[2] How 'mossies' spread West Nile, but not HIV - 2002-08-14
http://english.pravda.ru/main/2002/08/14/34555.html
[3] AIDS epidemic and bureaucracy kills 700 in Russia's Kaliningrad region - 10/13/2004
http://english.pravda.ru/main/18/90/360/14436_hiv.html
News From Russia - http://newsfromrussia.com
http://english.pravda.ru
http://newsfromrussia.com/science/2005/02/03/58063.html
GAYS: More cases of rare disease
Two cases of rare disease
11:13 2005-02-03
A rare sexually transmitted disease that can scar the genitals has been found in two patients in New York, and the strain is the same as that recently detected in Europe, the city's health commissioner said Wednesday.
Lymphogranuloma venereum, or LGV, is a form of chlamydia that can damage the bowels and scar the anus. Among the few patients that have been identified in the United States, most also had the AIDS virus, Health Department Commissioner Thomas Frieden said at a news conference.
"We know LGV increases the risk of the spread of HIV because it causes ulcers and bleeding," he said.
Frieden said the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier confirmed three LGV cases in San Francisco and one in Atlanta. He said gay and bisexual men were urged to abstain from sex or limit their number of sex partners and use condoms.
Unprotected anal intercourse is the key risk factor for the spread of LGV. Symptoms include painful rectal infections, but the first symptom may be a painless pimple or lesion on the genitals, tells the Seattle Post.
The cases are among the first reported in the United States and match a strain of the disease that only began to surface in Europe in recent years.
The disease, lymphogranuloma venereum, known as LGV, is a rare form of chlamydia that can cause acute illness, lifelong disability and disfigurement as well as fuel the spread of H.I.V./AIDS through open sores. A majority of those infected, both in Europe and the United States, have been gay men who engage in anal intercourse.
Health officials would not go into detail about the two infected men in New York except to say the cases appeared unrelated.
Some of the symptoms may have showed up in doctors' examinations, but they were not connected to the disease until further lab tests were performed by health officials on the federal and local levels, publishes the New York Times.
NR
Pravda.RU: Science and Culture
http://newsfromrussia.com/science/2005/02/03/58063.html See also:
[1] Plague and flu change history of the world - 01/27/2005
http://english.pravda.ru/printed.html?news_id=14884 [2] How 'mossies' spread West Nile, but not HIV - 2002-08-14
http://english.pravda.ru/main/2002/08/14/34555.html [3] AIDS epidemic and bureaucracy kills 700 in Russia's Kaliningrad region - 10/13/2004
http://english.pravda.ru/main/18/90/360/14436_hiv.html News From Russia -
http://newsfromrussia.com http://english.pravda.ru http://newsfromrussia.com/science/2005/02/03/58063.html
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Further Information on LGV
13.02.2005 13:36
If anyone is concerned that they have been at risk of exposure to LGV then I would recommend reading up on the researched facts from health promotion activists - such as the Terrence Higgins Trust in the United Kingdom, GMFA or the National Health Service.
Given that progressive open newswires such as Indymedia are sadly prone to misuse, it would be prudent to be suspicious of any postings that adopt conservative tabloid grabs like "Gays - New disease". LGV is nasty, but it's unlikely to spread beyond regular sex-club users, many of whom take their sexual health seriously with regular check ups and self-education organisations. Quite simply, if you're an average person - gay or straight - you'd be extraordinarily unlucky to be exposed to LGV.
Caz