Syphilis is back, especially among gay men with HIV

By Maria Cheng AP Medical Writer, Dec 27, 2007,

European doctors, researchers say alarming resurgence of disease once thought eradicated could be tied to ‘safe sex fatigue’

“Syphilis used to be a very rare disease,” said Dr. Marita van de Laar, an expert in sexually transmitted diseases at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. “I’m not sure we can say that anymore.”

…In 2000, syphilis infection rates were so low that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention embarked on a plan to eliminate the disease. But about 9,800 cases were reported in 2006.

In Europe, Van de Laar said syphilis’ reappearance was so surprising that many doctors initially had trouble diagnosing it.

Though these days it mainly affects urban gay men, experts worry that the disease could also rebound in the general population if stronger efforts to fight it are not taken soon….(Full Story)

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The Guardian
28 December 2007

Priest sued over seminar ‘curing’ homosexuality
By Mike Elkin in Madrid

Spanish clergyman is to be investigated after complaints that he is holding seminars which aim to “rehabilitate homosexuals”. Protestant minister Marcos Zapata, head of an organisation running youth centres for troubled children in Galicia, prompted the row after reports surfaced of a recent seminar he led entitled “How to Raise Heterosexual Children”….(Full Story)

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