A medical report suggesting that gay men are "many times more likely than others" to acquire a new multidrug-resistant strain of staphylococcus has drawn criticism from the gay community, prompting the authors to clarify their findings.
The report, published online in the Annals of Internal Medicine, identified the strain as MRSA USA300. [Editor's note: Prevention News Update summarized the New York Times' coverage of the study on Jan. 16.] One part of the research paper, based on data from a San Francisco AIDS clinic between 2004 and 2006, found that gay men were 13 times more likely than other people to be infected with the hard-to-treat strain.
Some antigay activists saw the report as ammunition for their arguments. "The medical community has known for years that homosexual conduct, especially among males, creates a breeding ground for often deadly disease," said a release from Concerned Women for America.
In response, the researchers issued an apology acknowledging their initial news release "contained some information that could be interpreted as misleading." "We deplore negative targeting of specific populations in association with MRSA infections or other public health concerns," wrote the team, led by doctors at the University of California-San Francisco.
CDC, which helped finance the study, also issued a statement. The agency said the staph infection is not sexually transmitted and is not limited to certain population groups. "These infections occur in men, women, adults, children, and persons of all races and sexual orientations," said CDC.
01/20/08
UNITED STATES: After Linking New Strain of Staph to Gay Men, University Scrambles to Clarify
Source: New York Times:: Jesse McKinley; Courtesy of the CDC National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention