Gay, transgender and bisexual men who are at least 40 years old lived through the AIDS pandemic where just the initials of HIV meant a certain death sentence. Time does not stand still and modern medicine has taken away the death threat. That is, if you can afford the medication and have access to it. Every sex education program in schools teach the benefits of safe sex. So what is the problem?
Growing Numbers
The Centers for Disease Control have some alarming numbers. In 2014 among all the diagnoses for syphilis when the sex of the partner was known, 83% of all cases were for gay men. Some of the worst case scenarios for gay men are the increases in chlamydia, gonorrhea and HPV (Human papillomavirus).
While the majority of people believe that HPV is more of a female issue with cervical cancer, this is not quite the case. HPV can cause genital and anal warts, and in some instances can lead to the development of anal and oral cancers. If it can cause cancer in females it can certainly cause cancer in males.
Men who have sex with men are 17 times more likely to get anal cancer than those who do not. Moreover, men with HIV are even more likely to develop this cancer than men without HIV.
What about PrEP?
Not only has modern medicine given those with HIV new drugs that will extend their lives so they will not die from AIDS, there are also new drugs on the market called Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). This type of drug was developed with the monogamous gay man in mind. When taken as directed it lessens the chance of a HIV positive person transmitting the virus to an HIV negative man.
Interesting enough, these drugs are also recommended for those who are and are not gay but have lifestyles that may place them in situations where they may have sex with an HIV infected partner or a high-risk individual. The high risk could be promiscuity or fraternization with those who use intravenous drugs.
The good news for this drug is that an HIV person who takes the drug everyday as prescribed has a 92% chance of not infecting their partner. So, to carry out the equation further, an HIV negative man having unprotected sex with an HIV positive man has only an 8% chance of developing the virus. This is not 100%. How lucky do you feel?
Possible Reasons for the Increase in STD’s
The first reason being bantered about is that many STD’s are becoming drug-resistant. We know there is currently a drug-resistant strain of gonorrhea and there is a drug-resistant super bug on the rise. The health authorities do not have any new antibiotics that can destroy these bugs.
Also, when PrEP medications were introduced, there were no directions to discontinue the use of condoms. Quite the contrary. A condom is the only means to protect a person from STDs and HIV – other than abstinence. Many gay men are thinking only of HIV when they are taking the medications but forgetting that there are many other STDs at large.
With syphilis being the large threat, men should learn the debilitating facts of the disease and return to using condoms, even if they are taking PrEP medications.
