Syphilis epidemic in Hamburg
Hamburg in Germany is experiencing a rapid increase in syphilis cases
- and they are overwhelmingly concentrated among HIV positive gay men.
Between 1997 and 1999 a total of 210 cases of syphilis were diagnosed
in the city. A startling 82 per cent were in HIV positive gay men. Cases
rose nearly fourfold in two years, from 19 in 1997 to 71 in 1999. Cases
in the nearby cities of Hanover, Lübeck and Kiel did not increase,
suggesting localised infection among a circle of positive men meeting
on the gay party scene. German doctors warned that HIV is much more transmissible
if active syphilis is present, and recommended that positive gay men with
more than one sexual partner get tested for sexually-transmitted infections
twice yearly.
New TB vaccine
Scientists are working on the first new vaccine against tuberculosis to
be developed in 80 years. An Oxford team is recruiting volunteers for
the MVA85A vaccine. It is intended that it would work in tandem with the
existing BCG jab. BCG works well in children but the body 'forgets' its
effects after about 10 years. The new vaccine, which reintroduces the
same immune stimulant as BCG in a different form, induces the body to
'rememberthe initial response to BCG. It is likely to be given several
years after the BCG jab. TB currently kills two million people a year,
and UK cases have risen by 34 per cent in the last decade.
page 7 of 8
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