preventable disease

Government auditors reminded the Bush administration Thursday that literature distributed by federally funded abstinence programs must contain medically accurate information about condoms' effectiveness in preventing sexually transmitted diseases.

Syphilis is back: The sexually transmitted disease long associated with 19th-century bohemian life is making an alarming resurgence in Europe. ''Syphilis used to be a very rare disease,'' said Marita van de Laar, MD, an expert in sexually transmitted diseases at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. ''I'm not sure we can say that anymore.'' Most cases of syphilis are in men, and experts point to more risky sex among gay men as the chief cause for the resurgence. But more cases are being seen among heterosexuals, both men and women, too.

Federal health officials are revising their estimate of how many people are infected by HIV each year, and advocacy groups say the number could rise by 35% or more. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the numbers are not final and won't be released until early next year. The CDC has been estimating about 40,000 new HIV cases occur in the nation each year. At a national HIV prevention conference in Atlanta this week, however, advocates claimed the new estimate is 55,000 or higher.

The Washington Blade is reporting that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is debating when to release what the story called "alarming new statistics" showing that up to 50% more Americans are being infected with HIV annually than the government previously reported. AIDS activist groups familiar with the CDC told the Blade that middle-level officials at the agency have quietly told professional and scientific colleagues that the number of new infections was as high as 58,000 to 63,000 cases in the most recent 12-month period.