Homosexual Men Account for 65 Percent of Syphilis Cases, CDC Study Finds

Thursday, January 15, 2009, By Pete Winn, Senior Writer/Editor(CNSNews.com)

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says homosexual men accounted for 65 percent of the nearly 12,000 cases of syphilis in the United States in 2007, making them the “primary driver” of increased syphilis rates overall.

In a report on sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) issued Tuesday, the government said syphilis, a disease that was almost eliminated as a public health threat less than 10 years ago, is on the rise -- with cases increasing each year since 2000.

It remained a serious health threat in the United States in 2007, the latest year for which statistics are available, largely because of increased transmission among “men who have sex with men” (MSM) in the United States, according to the CDC.

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