At least 125 people, including a small group 0f high school students, have tested positive for HIV, syphilis, or both in what is being described as a growing cluster of sexually transmitted infections in the Milwaukee area, the Journal Sentinel reports.
“This is an epidemic people are not talking about enough, and it leads to people taking unnecessary risks,” Melissa Ugland, a public health consultant, says.
Most of the 125 people are men, of which 45% were HIV-positive. Fewer than 10% of the 125 who tested positive are high school students, but officials fear those numbers may increase as more people get tested.
According to the CDC, a cluster is “an unusual aggregation of disease… grouped together in time and place.” Health officials first became aware of the issue back in December.
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In a statement, officials for the Milwaukee Public School System said they are working with the city’s health department “to share information with young people in middle schools and high schools to keep them healthy and to protect their health.”
The health department has also launched a campaign to promote free and confidential STI testing.
Troubling #publichealth news, there has been an increase in new cases of HIV/Syphilis. Sadly this included infants in 2017.
On March 1st, MHD launched a commuter ad campaign with MCTS to raise awareness about sexually transmitted diseases. https://t.co/Cnk2inKOjo
— MKE Health Dept. (@MKEhealth) March 7, 2018
Health experts are calling the cluster a “sentinel event” because of the number of young people being affected and becoming HIV positive, as well as the fact that three babies have been born with syphilis.
“It’s a really big deal,” Ugland says.
Related: HIV is not over. These beautiful people fight on for prevention and a cure.
brandon47240
Apparently they never heard about the outbreak in Southern Indiana that infected 190 people.
PinkoOfTheGange
That outbreak was linked to more to IV drug use.
This one, riding with syphilis, is more likely sexually transmitted, but IV drug use is a known vector for HIV and risky sexual behavior.
Bob LaBlah
And keep in mind that 190 people are the ones whom they found, shall we say. Imagine how many more don’t even realize they are connected to that 190 people. You know how promiscuous some of us are.
jkthsnk
Thank Walker for the shit sex ed.
Lacuevaman
apparently they’ve never heard of safe sex
PinkoOfTheGange
For the 2013/14 school year, the local school districts where given permission to teach abstinence only by the WI department of Public Ed.
This crops up 4 years later makes one wonder if these 12 or so kids are in one of those backward districts?
At least for now they have the safety net that Medicaid expansion affords…till that gets gutted because the tax cuts caused higher deficits.
truckproductions
wait.. were they gay or straight or both etc??
surreal33
Clearly, people have been duped into a false sense of security regarding HIV. Television and movies issue a false narrative that HIV no big deal. Also, Prep is marketed as an alternative to condom use which tragic.
truckproductions
where is prep marketed as an alternative to condoms? I hav only ever seen it advertised as part of several ways to stay safe.
ChrisK
@surreal33. Please tell us where these tv and movies are that are glorifying HIV and where Prep marketing pimps are so we can boycott them immediately?
Notright
Morals matter folks. https://rainbowright.com
gymmuscleboy
@Notright WTF is that link? “We believe in… social injustice”???
o.codone
Tell your mom to make access to this site more friendly. Everytime I go there I have to give info. I cannot take drugs, be high, AND figure out how to sign on to this site. It’s too much for me.
ChrisK
@gymmuscleboy. Don’t try to make any sense of it. It’s as much of an oxymoron as “gay republican”.
Heywood Jablowme
I won’t click on ANY link Notright posts here. Ew, viruses! (Is there HIV for PCs?)
But any dictionary will tell you:
Notright = Wrong!
dwes09
ETHICS matter. Morals are all too often ways in which folks like you (right wing evangelical trolls, or in your case, self hating regressive homosexuals) demonize and attempt to manipulate gay people into invisibility.
Ethical treatment of others and personal responsibility (which regressives like you give lip service to, but only mean “let the poor and the minorities go f*** themselves) matter and will slow or halt the spread of HIV. The arrogance and stupidity of the right never will.
And what is wirth your name? You are clearly about as far right as one can get.
Aranos
@Notright. So what you mean is that we should drop all morals and become socially unjust? LOL
P.S. How old are you? 16?
chris33133
On the one hand, these new statistical tools that help public health officials zero in on places where clusters of any epidemic are taking place are a huge step in the right direction. On the other hand, the continuing do-nothing attitude of our elected officials ensures that these clusters will be ongoing moments for hand wringing and not much else.
For starters, schools need to teach about safe sex as more than abstinence. And the message about the importance of condom usage in stopping more STIs than HIV (syphilis being a case in point) needs to be reinforced.
Creamsicle
Yeah education is what’s needed and will affordably reduce the numbers going forward, but quality sex education in public schools is a big no-no in conservative politics because conservatism is more about identity now than it is about policy and actually fixing public health crises.
theszak
The Strategy. BEFORE sex test TOGETHER for A VARIETY OF STIs Sexually Transmitted Infections including HIV Human Immunodeficiency Virus then make an INFORMED decision, google… tested together before sex
Jaxton
Keep your zippers shut and everything will be OK.
Alternatively, choose carefully.
dwes09
Keeping your zipper shut is never good advice (as the reality of abstinence only sex ed shows quite clearly, though empiricism is anathema to regressives).
Choosing carefully isn’t either, as nobody (not even regressives) can tell who is HIV positive or has other STIs.
Taking responsibility for one’s own protection is the only way to maintain health. PrEP or condoms or both, every time, regular checkups, you being forthright with others, and making decisions based on that.
UWSguy
It would be terrific if we all supported more HIV AND STD prevention and health issues, there are hundreds of thousands of young people who haven’t had basic ventral disease education.
UWSguy
Sorry I meant venereal
ShowMeGuy
Back in the day……Condoms should have been fetishized instead of barebacking.