LOS ANGELES COUNTY: Safe Sex Message Is Failing Among Gays, Experts Warn
An outbreak of syphilis among gay men in Los Angeles County is "one more troubling sign that the 'safer sex' message is not getting through or is being shrugged off," health officials warned Thursday, noting that two-thirds of the men affected in the syphilis outbreak already have HIV/AIDS. "What most of these men have in common is (frequenting) sex clubs and bathhouses and having unprotected sex with multiple partners, or ... male prostitutes," Dr. Jonathan Fielding, Los Angeles County director of public health, said. Lee Klosinski, director of education for AIDS Project Los Angeles, said, "This is just a really startling, eye-opening situation, which calls attention to the ongoing difficulty of maintaining safer sex practices." As HIV/AIDS prevention advocates scramble to create new warnings and alerts for people at risk, experts suggest that the reasons for safe sex laxity among gay men are complex. Older men, experts hypothesize, may be suffering from "epidemic fatigue," and are tired of complying with safe sex practices. Others are so encouraged by new drug "cocktails" that they "no longer perceive AIDS as a fatal disease." Calling the pattern "extremely disturbing," CDC Director of the STD Prevention Program Dr. Judith Wasserheit said, "What we're seeing here is not unique to L.A." She added, "It does indicate a trend toward relapse to risky sexual behaviors." Moreover, the trend is not isolated to gay men. A recent study of almost 2,000 HIV-negative or untested San Francisco residents, including gay and bisexual men, drug users and heterosexuals, found that nearly one-third had "relaxed their concerns about contracting the AIDS virus, under the impression that drug cocktails could save their lives." Jennifer Kates, a senior program officer at the Kaiser Family Foundation, said, "You want to capture the successes and say we have treatments for people and can help people...(but) that does not mean there is no mortality or that those treatment regimens are easy" (Marquis, Los Angeles Times, 3/24).
This is part of the California Healthline Daily Edition, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.