New Disease Strains Heighten Risks of Unhealthy Homosexual Lifestyle
by Mary Rettig
February 22, 2006
(AgapePress) - - Culture and Family Institute (CFI) director Bob Knight says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has discovered some new reasons why homosexual men need to stop their destructive and potentially deadly lifestyle.
The CDC recently reported that a rare strain of chlamydia called LGV (lymphogranuloma venereum) in the U.S. have been HIV-infected men who have sex with other men. was found in several dozen U.S. patients. Public health officials say this strain of the sexually transmitted disease is extremely hard to diagnose and poses a serious health threat, as it compromises a person's immune system and makes the infected person even more susceptible to other kinds of infections.
This is one reason CDC researchers are particularly concerned about the rising incidence of LGV, Knight points out. "They're worried because, when you have an infection like that, it affects your immune system and makes you more prone to get other diseases such as HIV infection, which can lead to AIDS," he explains.
According to the pro-family advocate, LGV is just one of those sexually transmitted diseases prevalent among homosexual men on which CDC investigators are reporting some alarming data.
He notes, "They've also found other diseases that are concentrated among male homosexuals -- a new strain of syphilis, and a strain of tuberculosis that is drug resistant.""Clearly," Knight contends, "the ongoing promiscuity that characterizes the young homosexual male population is contributing to the spread of illnesses -- perhaps even strains that we hadn't seen before."
Knight says the homosexual community needs to be concerned about LGV, just as public health officials are. And homosexual men cannot rely on condom use to protect them from the disease, he warns, because condoms have proven very ineffective against the disease.
According to CDC statistics, the majority of patients diagnosed with LGV proctitis (anal inflammation due to lymphogranuloma venereum infection) in the U.S. have been HIV-infected men who have sex with other men. Unlike routine cases of chlamydia, LGV can cause chronic gastrointestinal distress, including inflammation and bleeding of the rectum and colon.
