"Between 2001 and 2002, the syphilis rate rose 9.1% from 2.2
cases per 100,000 people to 2.4 cases, the CDC said. The rate had
dropped every year under Clinton before reversing course under
Bush."
U.S. syphilis rate increases for second year in a row, CDC says
ATLANTA (AP) — The nation's syphilis rate has climbed for the
second year in a row, mostly because of an increase in cases
among gay and bisexual men, the government said Thursday.
Between 2001 and 2002, the syphilis rate rose 9.1% from 2.2 cases
per 100,000 people to 2.4 cases, the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention said. The rate had dropped every year between 1990
and 2000 before reversing course.
The actual increase in cases was small — 759 more people, for a
total of 6,682 new cases — but the rise among gay and bisexual
men has caused concern that the public health safeguards and
safe-sex practices adopted over the last two decades during the
AIDS epidemic continue to crumble.
"The vast majority of the United States is not seeing any
syphilis at all," said Dr. John Douglas, director of the CDC's
division of sexually transmitted diseases. "We're seeing syphilis
rise primarily in groups of gay and bisexual men."
Syphilis cases in the West soared 64.3% (1.4 cases per 100,000 to
2.3) between 2001 and 2002 and climbed 54.5% in the Northeast
(1.1 cases per 100,000 to 1.7 per 100,000), a rise caused in part
by outbreaks in these regions' major cities — San Francisco, Los
Angeles, New York and Miami.
But the CDC also reported that prevention efforts appeared to be
working in the South, which for the first time since 1984, no
longer accounts for half of the country's syphilis cases. Also,
women and non-Hispanic blacks saw a decline for the 12th
consecutive year.
In the past two years, the government has repeatedly warned that
gays and bisexuals may be letting down their guard against
sexually transmitted diseases. About 40% of the new cases are
from these groups, the CDC said.
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