CDC shockingly recommends increases Syphilis screening for all males in their 20s in general....and not for women. I think MY first reaction to the news sums why the MRM is morally superior to feminism.

Asher-D · 2016-06-08T21:09:53+00:00

I'm guessing their thinking was men are more high risk for syphilis (I'm assuming), but I agree they should screen for everyone.

intirb · 2016-06-09T03:55:14+00:00

From the original article, in JAMA:

Men accounted for 90.8% of all cases of primary and secondary syphilis in 2014

Why not test both men and women more often anyway? Again, from the article:

Although direct evidence on screening among nonpregnant persons who are not at increased risk for syphilis infection is lacking, based on the established test performance characteristics of current screening tests and the low prevalence rate of syphilis in this population, the yield of screening is likely low. Therefore, screening in this population may result in high false-positive rates and overtreatment.

And to be clear, the "increased testing" recommendations mean you should get tested once every 3 months instead of once every year, if you are in one of the "at-risk" categories.

TheRedThrowAwayPill · 2016-06-09T05:26:01+00:00

Chill out.

Women go to the doctor like 10 times a year. No need to promote them going to the clinic.

Guys in their 20's however visit a doc once a decade or if something is actually broken.

So it makes sense cdc is gonna specifically try to get men thru the doors.

rg57 · 2016-06-08T23:36:03+00:00

The increase in screenings should focus on the groups at highest risk -- HIV-positive men, men who have sex with men, and men ages 20 to 29

If men are at highest RISK, then it would appear that screening women is less important, and a waste of resources that could be going to men, the group at highest risk

and safe sex practices, specifically the use of condoms, should be emphasized

It's worth noting that of the 20 FDA-recommended forms of contraception, only 2 are explicitly removed from coverage under the ACA, and those that the 2 male forms of contraception, including male condoms, which also prevent disease transmission.

What a surprise that this is the result.

-Steak- · 2016-06-08T21:32:08+00:00

Is it easier to test/see syphilis on males, compared to females?

deathdragon5858 · 2016-06-08T23:22:39+00:00

I am trying to understand how screening for an illness is a bad thing? Is there some context I am not seeing here? Is there going to be laws like you have to be screened to get a job or something like that?

enjoycarrots · 2016-06-09T00:58:10+00:00

I can at least hope that their recommendation is based on cold demographics of the disease. That is, they set a certain threshold of prevalence at which point they recommend increased testing. "Males aged 20-29" surpassed that threshold. "Females aged 20-29" did not. If that's the case here, then I'm not outraged, but I do disagree.

With a sexually transmitted disease, both genders will benefit when both genders are tested. If men are more in need because they are getting the disease more frequently, then males will still benefit if there are less women in that age group who are infected and can transmit it to them. But I'm not a scientist in the field. I don't even work in medicine. So I could be dead wrong about that logic.

I hope that this is also usually true for cases where a certain treatment is recommended for women, but men, even though both genders could benefit. But from what I can tell looking from outside the field, at least as a matter of messaging to the public, that's not always the case. When we do focus on women's health to the exclusion of men, often it appears to be politics and social justice and not just cold hard science.

iainmf · 2016-06-09T02:53:21+00:00

It might be because some men who have sex with men don't identify as gay.

HiberniaSon · 2016-06-09T07:58:51+00:00

Why attack the root when you can hack away at leaves and branches?

andejoh · 2016-06-09T14:59:28+00:00

My first reaction to seeing this was, what was the rate of testing women in the first place? Do we really know whether men are tested more often because of the change? The second thing I thought about is why men get syphilis more in the first place? Is there some treatment women already get like the HPV vaccine that men have been denied?

Banditos-frio · 2016-06-08T20:59:03+00:00

Well, really guys, does anyone really care if all the women get syphilis?

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