Prostitutes, gay men blamed for syphilis epidemic in China

[WillParkinson]

Prostitutes, gay men blamed for syphilis epidemic in China
By The Associated Press
05.10.2010 1:00pm EDT

Every hour a baby is born in China with syphilis, as the world’s fastest-growing epidemic of the disease is fueled by men with new money from the nation’s booming economy, researchers say.

The easy-to-cure bacterial infection, which was nearly wiped out in China five decades ago, is now the most commonly reported sexually transmitted disease in its largest city, Shanghai.

Prostitutes along with gay and bisexual men, many of whom are married with families, are driving the epidemic, according to a commentary published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The increase reflects the country’s staggering economic growth, providing both businessmen and migrant laborers more cash and opportunity to pay for unsafe sex while away from home.

“In the ’50s and ’60s in China, syphilis and other STDs were extremely uncommon. The number of new cases has just rapidly accelerated,” Dr. Joseph Tucker, lead author and an infectious disease specialist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said in an interview. “Even one baby born with syphilis in China is unacceptable.”

http://www.365gay.com/news/prostitutes-gay-men-blamed-for-syphilis-epidemic-in-china/

[RKP5637]

1. Yeah, they blame it on the gays, as usual. A convenient scapegoat. n/t

[closeupready]

2. Kind of funny (not) how nobody ever points out, if you just keep your dick in your pants,

you're very unlikely to catch syphillis, even less likely to catch AIDS.

If, on the other hand, you are married, as most adults are, your marital partner is theoretically the individual to whom you are supposed to turn for sexual release/lovemaking (among other things), not available gay men whom you fail to inform that you are married, not prostitutes of whom you ask if you can fuck them without using a condom.

[sui generis]

3. yah every backwards culture says that. Venice, 1575

city leaders claimed that prostitutes were responsible for the plague . . . .

Veronica Franco (1546–1591) was an Italian poet and courtesan in 16th century Venice.

"When we too are armed and trained, we can convince men that we have hands, feet, and a heart like yours; and although we may be delicate and soft, some men who are delicate are also strong; and others, coarse and harsh, are cowards. Women have not yet realized this, for if they should decide to do so, they would be able to fight you until death; and to prove that I speak the truth, amongst so many women, I will be the first to act, setting an example for them to follow."
—Veronica Franco