The city of Milwaukee is calling its latest sexually transmitted disease outbreak sexually transmitted “clusters.” The diseases are infecting a scary number of local teens.
The Journal Sentinel reports that 125 persons have contracted HIV, syphilis, or even both. Many of those diagnosed with both or either has been high school students. While only 10 percent of those who returned a positive test are Milwaukee Public Schools students, public health officials are confident this number will rise dramatically.
“This is an epidemic people are not talking about enough, and it leads to people taking unnecessary risks,” stated public health consultant, Melissa Ugland.
The defines the term, “cluster,” as “an unusual aggregation, of disease that are grouped together in time and place.” Unlike a Pandemic, clusters are a smaller scale event. A cluster also means that those who test positive for the illness were likely in some form of contact over a short-period of time when the infection took place.
Most of those who were inevitably tested were men and of those, 45 percent tested postive for HIV. Additionally, three babies were confirmed born with syphilis.
Troubling #publichealth news, there has been an increase in new cases of HIV/Syphilis. Sadly this included infants in 2017.
On March 1st, MHD launched a commuter ad campaign with MCTS to raise awareness about sexually transmitted diseases. https://t.co/Cnk2inKOjo
— MKE Health Dept. (@MKEhealth) March 7, 2018
A statement has been released by The Milwaukee Health Department.
“Because schools have a significant number of students in the 15-18 age group, we are working with the Milwaukee Health Department, in a collaborative and preventive effort, to share information with young people in middle schools and high schools to keep them healthy and to protect their health.”
“(The cluster) was still considered ongoing; they were continuing to try to track down some folks,” Ugland explained.
