Louisiana: Combating Syphilis: Halting Surge of Cases Among Gay Men May Keep HIV Rates Down

New Orleans health and community leaders were meeting Wednesday to develop education and treatment strategies to help curb the rise of syphilis among local gay men. Many of the cases are gay men who have multiple sex partners, do not practice safe sex, and are too young to remember when HIV was a death sentence instead of the relatively manageable infection it has become, said Jeffrey Pagan-Laureano, a public-health adviser in the Louisiana Office of Public Health (OPH).

Although local syphilis numbers in young gay men are still relatively low, it is important to begin prevention efforts "before it gets out of control," said Lisa Longfellow, administrator of the state OPH's STD program. Lesions caused by syphilis can become a portal for HIV. Because of this link, "syphilis is a health concern that we need to wake up and pay attention to," said Noel Twilbeck, executive director of NO/AIDS Task Force.

The disease can move cyclically through a population. New Orleans' case count bottomed out at nine in 2002, before climbing to 26 last year. In the first four months of 2004, the city has logged 45 cases, Pagan-Laureano said. Slightly more than half of all city cases last year were diagnosed in young gay men, he said, adding that all 10 white men diagnosed last year were gay. Of cases diagnosed in April, about 65 percent were under age 24, Pagan-Laureano noted.

Disparities between blacks and whites have abated as syphilis rates declined among African Americans and increased among Caucasians, said Dr. Stuart Berman, chief of epidemiology and surveillance in CDC's STD prevention program. The national increases are occurring in men, said Berman. Cases among women have been steadily declining.

Back to other news for May 21, 2004