There have been reports in the media and on blogs around the world this week of new strain of staph, highly resistant to antibiotics reportedly spreading among gay men in San Francisco, Boston, New York and Los Angeles.
Some of the headlines have been sensationalist, labeling this newly strain of an increasingly common infection as “the new HIV” whereas others – notably those I have read in the San Francisco Chronicle and the New York Times – have been more considered, and based on the factual evidence available. ...
The most sensible statement I have seen in the media so far came from Roger Pebody, of the Terrence Higgins Trust in a BBC Online report, who said:
"This is not the new HIV. What we are seeing is the emergence of an infection that can be passed on through close skin to skin contact, including sex. It is worrying that one in ten of the American cases are resistant to antibiotics, but most cases are treatable."
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