Sex Sexually Transmitted Infections and the City
posted by June 9 at 11:49 AM
onOne in four adults in New York City, according to a new study, are infected with the virus that causes genital herpes. (More than one herpes virus can cause sores on your genitals, which makes this genital-herpes-virus stuff confusing, but that’s for another post.) The headline seems alarming until you read the story, which points out that nearly one in five adults outside New York City are infected with the virus that causes herpes. So the rate in NYC is significantly higher, and that’s worrisome, but it’s not like folks in NYC are that much likelier to have herpes than folks in, say, Seattle.
And most people who have the virus that causes genital herpes have no symptoms—a fact that helps to create a gulf between the panic we’re supposed to feel based on headlines about herpes infection rates and the relative complacency induced by how little harm the virus does to most people that are infected by it.
In other STI news, the World Health Organization has “admitted,” according to a report in the Independent, that an HIV/AIDS pandemic among heterosexuals outside of Africa “has disappeared.”
people make a big deal about herpes, but as someone that has only had 1 outbreak of HSV-I on my dick, I can honestly say it isn't that big of a deal. it could be worse. it could be aids.
"has disappeared"? that should be "never materialized."
"So the rate in NYC is significantly higher, and that’s worrisome, but it’s not like folks in NYC are that much likelier to have herpes than folks in, say, Seattle."
The two main clauses of this sentence contradict each other.
@1 -- I commend you on your honesty, and at the same time, hope never to suck your dick.
I think the worst thing about Herpes is that open sores (of which one may not be aware) are a marvelous portal for HIV.
/broken record
You know why? Because viruses don't cause disease. You've really not read The Great AIDS Hoax, Dan?
You know why? Because viruses don't cause disease. You've really not read The Great AIDS Hoax, Dan?
Let's not forget that AIDS/HIV in Russia, India, and China is still there - just underreported.
That said, malaria or TB kills WAY MORE PEOPLE any day of the week.
@6 - Yeah, virion lysis of targeted cell types has nothing to do with pathophysiologic derangement. Get bit by a rabid animal and trust that your book is right over the fact that virions hitching a ride up the axons of your peripheral nerves are going to cause acute fatal encephalitis after several days. After the pathologist cuts out your brain, they'll find negri bodies (inclusions of rabies virus) just hanging out and just having a good time with no foul in your neuron cell bodies...good thing your book was right!
From the Independent article:
2006 1% of Russians HIV+
1991 1% of South Africans HIV+
today 25 % of South Africans HIV+
Low rates of circumcision, which is protective, and high rates of genital herpes, which causes ulcers on the genitals through which the virus can enter the body, also contributed to Africa's heterosexual epidemic.
The claim that the heterosexual pandemic of HIV has disappeared is needlessly confusing. The epidemiologists assumes that everyone knows the difference between pandemics (worldwide) and epidemics (localized, but still damaging). Heterosexual epidemics of HIV do and will exist until there is a cure. HIV is now the number 1 killer of African American men 21-49 in this country. Eastern Europe is rife with infections due to injection drug use that can easily jump into the heterosexual population. Data and monitoring from China and South East Asia remains weak. Also, saying the pandemic of heterosexual HIV has disappeared outside of Africa reinforces the notion that our lives as westerners are more important than those of the "global south". Just me 2 cents.
The claim that the heterosexual pandemic of HIV has disappeared is needlessly confusing. The epidemiologists assumes that everyone knows the difference between pandemics (worldwide) and epidemics (localized, but still damaging). Heterosexual epidemics of HIV do and will exist until there is a cure. HIV is now the number 1 killer of African American men 21-49 in this country. Eastern Europe is rife with infections due to injection drug use that can easily jump into the heterosexual population. Data and monitoring from China and South East Asia remains weak. Also, saying the pandemic of heterosexual HIV has disappeared outside of Africa reinforces the notion that our lives as westerners are more important than those of the "global south". Just me 2 cents.
shit, sorry for the double posting (now triple). stupid intenets.
Keep living in fear of evil spirits if you want to. But until you start living healthfully, you're going to be susceptible to disease, no matter how many fancy words you can recite.
Your name is fitting, shitbrain.
And can we tone down the whole "circumcision prevents HIV" meme? Genital mutilation is not a valid solution to anything. It's like saying we should cut people's fingers off because it will help them avoid poking their eyes out.
@14: No, yeah, the raw foods diet is a great idea. Why destroy all those perfectly healthy bacteria, viruses, parasites, and fungi with heat when you can just use your brain to will away disease? It's like the universe wants you to be healthy.
amen, w7ngman. just think how low the percentages of HIV infection would be if we practiced more female circumcision, too!
@9 - reported figures, actually. Both Russia and China severely underreport HIV/AIDS. Everyone knows that.
World Health Organization's ESTIMATES of HIV infection rate in Africa (and elsewhere) were based on computer modeling which grossly overestimated the infection rate.
The Independent: "In the US, the rate of [HIV] infection among men in Washington DC is well over 100 times higher than in North Dakota, the region with the lowest rate. That is in one country. How do you explain such differences?"
It's a mystery because of course the demographics of Washington DC and North Dakota are exactly the same.
Sure, other diseases kill more people, but what other diseases affect our sex lives?!
STI's? When did these things become STI's? Didn't they used to be STD's? I think this was done by the committee of bureuacrats determined to sound all fancy 'n shit, once laypeople know about something (from the tee vee), the high priests have to change the name. Cat scan? Oh no, now it's a cee tee scan now. Take your wounded buddy to the ER? Oh no, that TV show ruined it, it's the ED now, the Emergency Department.
Don't mind me, I'm an old coot. I remember when large organizations had pesonnel offices, not "human resources."
I remember when an STI was a kick-ass Subaru, by gum!
Comments Closed
Comments are closed on this post.