Scientists Warn Doctors of Syphilis Comeback

CDC recommends alternate test

(NEWSER) - You have syphilis. OK, maybe not. That's the experience hundreds of people may have suffered thanks to inconsistencies in the dominant syphilis test, USA Today reports. Some 18% of people who tested positive since the 1980s were actually free of the disease, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC recommends a second testing method—but doesn't have nationwide figures for how prevalent the faulty method is. More»

Facebook rep urges 'precautions'

(NEWSER) - British health officials are linking a troubling surge in cases of syphilis to the large number of casual sexual encounters triggered by Facebook meetings. Syphilis cases have increased the most in regions with the highest use of Facebook, officials tell the Telegraph . "There has been a fourfold increase in the number of syphilis cases, with more young women being affected," said a local public health chief. More»

Penis-handed villain and heroes like 'Wonder Vag' teach kids

(NEWSER) - If your kids refuse to listen when you try to sit them down for the sex talk, perhaps you should plop them in front of a new online sex ed game instead…as long as you don’t mind your daughter playing as the character “Wonder Vag.” Gawker and Comics Alliance point to a Canadian health unit's Adventures in Sex City , which teaches kids about sexually transmitted diseases via a villain who ejects infected sperm for every wrong answer. More»

Syphilis outbreak sparks offer of gift card in exchange for test

(NEWSER) - The incidence of syphilis is spiking in the economically hard-hit South, and health officials have lit on a novel preventative measure, MSNBC reports: Wal-Mart gift cards. Syphilis tends to rebound in tough times, and a program in North Carolina induces patients to submit to a test in exchange for the $10 economic incentive. The number of cases this year in Forsyth County, 140, is already more than triple the number in all of 2008. More»

(NEWSER) - Pregnant women and people who care for infants will be first in line for the swine flu vaccine this fall, the Washington Post reports. Infants, children and young adults under 24, chronically ill adults aged 25 to 64, and health care workers are the other top priority groups under guidelines drawn up by experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention yesterday. More»