The New Aids Virus

[UNTflyer]

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A drug-resistant strain of potentially deadly bacteria has moved beyond the borders of U.S. hospitals and is being transmitted among gay men during sex, researchers said on Monday.

They said methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, is beginning to appear outside hospitals in San Francisco, Boston, New York and Los Angeles.

Sexually active gay men in San Francisco are 13 times more likely to be infected than their heterosexual neighbors, the researchers reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

"Once this reaches the general population, it will be truly unstoppable," said Binh Diep, a researcher at the University of California, San Francisco who led the study. "That's why we're trying to spread the message of prevention."

According to chemical analyses, bacteria are spreading among the gay communities of San Francisco and Boston, the researchers said.

"We think that it's spread through sexual activity," Diep said.

This superbug can cause life-threatening and disfiguring infections and can often only be treated with expensive, intravenous antibiotics.

It killed about 19,000 Americans in 2005, most of them in hospitals, according to a report published in October in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

About 30 percent of all people carry ordinary staph chronically. It can be passed by touching other people or by depositing the bacteria on surfaces or objects.

The bacteria can cause deep-tissue infections if they enter the body through a wound in the skin.

Of those people who carry staph, most carry it in their noses but community-based MRSA also can live in and around the anus and is passed between sexual partners.

Incidence of MRSA is rising along with the resurgence of syphilis, rectal gonorrhea, and new HIV infections partly because of changes in beliefs about the severity of HIV and an increase in risky behaviors, such as illicit drug use and having sex that abrades the skin, Diep's team wrote.

"Your likelihood of contracting each of these diseases increases with the number of sexual partners that you have," Diep said. "The same can probably be said for MRSA."

Staph infections often look like raised red dots on the skin. Left untreated, the areas can swell and fill with pus.

The best way to avoid infection is by washing the hands or genitals with soap and water, Diep said.

[JesseMartin]

Thanks, I'll remember this the next time I have wild anonymous anal sex.

2005? Why haven't we heard about this sooner??

[UNTflyer]

Thanks, I'll remember this the next time I have wild anonymous anal sex.

Well, Saturday night is just around the corner...

[Guest JohnDenver]

New AIDS?

Are you kidding me?

Trying to be a troll?

This is not an STD. Anyone can catch it. In fact, locker rooms are a common place to catch it. Some California FB player died of it this past year.. HE HAS TEH AIDZ!?1!?elventyeone!

The most common place is the hospital? Obvious trolling grounds for teh gayz.

The title reads like a Fox News headline or something on the Drudge Report, when really, it is well known about in the medical world. Just because it is spreading in one community, it is insane to call it the new AIDS, when it is equally spreading in other lifestyles (sports, for example).

[emmitt01]

New AIDS?

Are you kidding me?

Trying to be a troll?

This is not an STD. Anyone can catch it. In fact, locker rooms are a common place to catch it. Some California FB player died of it this past year.. HE HAS TEH AIDZ!?1!?elventyeone!

The most common place is the hospital? Obvious trolling grounds for teh gayz.

The title reads like a Fox News headline or something on the Drudge Report, when really, it is well known about in the medical world. Just because it is spreading in one community, it is insane to call it the new AIDS, when it is equally spreading in other lifestyles (sports, for example).

Ahhh...quit defending the gays.

Gay lover!

*This post is ripe with sarcasm, please be smart/mature enough to see it for what it is and not start a hissy fit anyone...especially you gay lovers!

[Quoner]

*This post is ripe with sarcasm, please be smart/mature enough to see it for what it is and not start a hissy fit anyone...especially you gay lovers!

Maturity... never!

I just posted because seeing myn ame on this thread will make the admins blink twice - like when you see a baby arm.

[Guest JohnDenver]

Ahhh...quit defending the gays.

Gay lover!

*This post is ripe with sarcasm, please be smart/mature enough to see it for what it is and not start a hissy fit anyone...especially you gay lovers!

Well, as you see from my sig, I do celebrate the "Trapped in the Closet" collection.

Maybe that isn't the same closet though...

[emmitt01]

Well, as you see from my sig, I do celebrate the "Trapped in the Closet" collection.

Maybe that isn't the same closet though...

Oh my God...a rubber, rubber.

[UNTflyer]

I like beer and pizza.

Edited January 15, 2008 by UNTflyer

[MeanGreenEagle]

Note to self: Don't have sex with disfigured women.

[UNTflyer]

Note to self: Don't have sex with disfigured women.

That is always, ALWAYS good advice.

[UNT_92_Fan]

I lost my virginity to a girl with a short arm... am I infected?

I KID I KID...

[Censored by Laurie]

Note to self: Don't have sex with disfigured women.

I fear you discriminate too quickly.

Always more willing to please.

And on topic: AIDS is bad.

[Got5onIt]

I lost my virginity to a girl with a short arm... am I infected?

I KID I KID...

you are so funny.....

FOR ME TO POOP ON!!!!!!

[JesseMartin]

Note to self: Don't have sex with disfigured women.

Ooops...

[Coffee and TV]

Ok I've never had any gay sex, but staph infections scare the hell out of me. Hell, I've only had one heterosexual partner (my wife) for the last 5 years, and I still got 2 staph infections in 2007. We've cleaned our house top to bottom and done everything but burn the sheets, but I get them for some reason. Trust me, they are no fun.

[BeanCounterGrad'03]

Ok I've never had any gay sex, but...

Wow! That's one of the funniest/weirdest beginnings of a post that I've ever seen.

[Coffee and TV]

Wow! That's one of the funniest/weirdest beginnings of a post that I've ever seen.

I knew I set myself up, but in all seriousness I don't like these things at all.

[emmitt01]

I knew I set myself up, but in all seriousness I don't like these things at all.

Staph infections? Or gay sex?

[MeanGreenZen]

Thanks, I'll remember this the next time I have wild anonymous anal sex.

2005? Why haven't we heard about this sooner??

Does this mean the last time you had wild anonymous anal sex was in 2005? Why the three-year hiatus?

[Quoner]

Does this mean the last time you had wild anonymous anal sex was in 2005? Why the three-year hiatus?

I've sworn it off since May 2007.

[JesseMartin]

Hah...I was referring to the date in the article. All of my anonymous sex has been in the vag, thank you (and them heheheh).

[Quoner]

Hah...I was referring to the date in the article. All of my anonymous sex has been in the vag, thank you (and them heheheh).

I second that. Thanks to everyone who put it in Jesse's vag.

(Will he laugh or flip out and threaten to kill me in person? Text 1 for laugh. Text 2 for flip out.)

[NTPhiKap99]

Ok so we agreement staph infections are bad so bad to sex with disfigured women. Honestly I'm forgainst it. It's a no, with a slightly yes-sy aftertaste.

[MeanGreenMommyness]

I second that. Thanks to everyone who put it in Jesse's vag.

(Will he laugh or flip out and threaten to kill me in person? Text 1 for laugh. Text 2 for flip out.)

Or use it to breach what few personal issues he hasn't covered already.