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Gay travelers to San Francisco may have brought back new strain of drug-resistant bacteria

By adamg on Tue, 01/15/2008 - 9:49am

A strain of MRSA bacteria that first surfaced among gay men in San Francisco is now turning up in gays in Boston, likely due to travel between the two cities, according to a study published yesterday.

The study on the Staphylococcus aureus strain known as US300 is based on samples taken at hospitals in San Francisco and at Fenway Community Health, where 126 men were found with it.

One of the Fenway patients reported frequent travel to San Francisco's Castro district, the epicenter of the outbreak in that city, and researchers compared the genetics of his bacteria with those found in San Francisco:

... [T]he genotype of multidrug-resistant USA300 in the patient from Fenway Community Health and the recent marked predominance of multidrug-resistant USA300 in Boston suggest the multidrug-resistant USA300 epidemic probably started in San Francisco and has been disseminated by the frequent cross-coastal travel of men who have sex with men. ...

The New York Times also reports on the study, and adds:

The San Francisco researchers suggested that scrubbing with soap and water might be the most effective way to stop skin-to-skin transmission, particularly after sexual activities.

Via Queer Today.

Free tagging: 
LGBTQ
health care
Fenway Community Health Center


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Comments

By theszak on Wed, 01/16/2008 - 12:21am.

A thought experiment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought_experiment
the strategy of let's get tested TOGETHER BEFORE we have sex for A VARIETY of STDs. A sexual health checkup reduces the ambiguity and can be like anything else
that's interesting that people do together http://notb4weknow.blogspot.com

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By Arborway on Wed, 01/16/2008 - 2:37am.

I think you made a slight typo in the title of your post.

I think you wanted to say:

"Let's get tested TOGETHER for A VARIETY of STDs B4 we have sex."

AS OPPOSED TO:

"Let's get tested TOGETHER B4 we have sex for A VARIETY of STDs."

Trust me on this one.

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By Lissa Harris on Thu, 01/17/2008 - 4:26pm.

I would love to see the look on the clap clinic staffer's face when people start walking in saying, "I touched a gay...can you test me for Flesh Eating Disease?"

By the way, Salon (and the NEJM) sez it's not just teh gay going around spreading filth. It's also the Pats.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2008/01/17/st...

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