New HIV Warning for King County; Unsafe Sex Rising, Health Officials Say

Dr. Bob Wood, a physician with the Seattle and King County Public Health Department, reported that HIV is increasing by an alarming rate among the male gay population in the area. According to Wood, the rise in cases is due the more relaxed precautions about safe sex and because the new drugs that are helping to extend patients' lives are giving some the perception that AIDS is now curable. Also on rise in the region is syphilis, even higher than it was in 1981 prior to the HIV epidemic hitting the area. The underlying concern behind the increase in sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) indicates to health officials that there has been an increase in unsafe sex. One report indicates that HIV-positive blood tests for gay males at Harborview Medical Center's STD Clinic have increased from about 3.6 percent to almost 11 percent in the past three years.

Other CDC News for March 16, 2001