Nearly 19,000 people died nationwide from MSRA infection in 2005, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control.

I'm trying to find a single article that doesn't mention this as something that is something that is especially a problem in male gay communities, particularly the gay community in San Francisco.

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&q=dea ... a=N&tab=wn

To see a whole bunch of stories on this subject. Why is it that it effects gay men more than other communities, sexually active communities?

I don't know what it's about, but the Concerned Women of America are on it like white on rice... Calling for a revolt against homos and such.

This is nuts! I'm wondering what this is going to mean to the gay community.

So, I guess the bathhouse/sex-club dwellers will be affected the most... unless they do it in the shower...

Sounds like soap on a rope is going to be my theme gift this year..

Oooh.....

Yeah... the gift that I give. Just to clear that up... Well maybe that makes it worse...

You see I have some really slutty friends...

I should just stop.

I won't bore you with a long lecture on mutation rates in the various strains of MRSA.

But I will bore you with this. MRSA isn't a rare bacteria. I was amazed when the media picked up on it, though. Like it was some new superbug.
I deal with it a lot, and as long as you use basic hygiene (soap, water, protection--be that gloves, condoms, saran wrap) you're no more likely to get it than anyone else. For them to hone in on the gay community is just asinine.

(Oh, I should clarify. I'm a nurse, that's why I see MRSA a lot.)

Can you get mrsa in your mouth? Like if you had sex with someone dirty? What would happen if you ingested mrsa?

If you ingest it, unless you have open sores in your mouth, throat or upper stomach, the acids in your stomach will kill most viruses and bacteria.

Basically, all the rules for any other STD, apply them to MRSA too and you should be safe.

SAFETY FIRST

(Once that's done, you can pull the trigger)

Thanks for that info. I was wondering the same thing as JQ.

Staph is just like a super cold is all. It can kill you if your immune system is already weakened, but for most healthy people it will just make you sick as hell for a few days. Primarily you find it around hospitals and nursing homes.

It has nothing to do with homosexuality. Like most things health related, the media will seize on a headline that sells newspapers (or attracts viewers) rather than focusing on the facts.

It may not even make you sick if you have a healthy immune system. There's a relatively high percentage of us nurses who are "colonised" with MRSA, but we're not compromised from an immunological standpoint.

What makes people in hospitals, nursing homes etc compromised is the use of antibiotics that kill off the normal (nonvirulent) bacteria, allowing the small population of resistant bacteria to flourish with nothing to hold it back. Persons with immune compromise outside of these settings may include the use of corticosteroids (e.g. prednisone, cortisone, some inhalers) or immunosuppression from chemotherapy, or AIDS. (And we all know that the media lumps AIDS and gays into one pigeonhole.)