Doctors ignorant of syphilis signs
Syphilis is on the rise in developed countries, spurred by illicit drug use and high-risk sexual behaviour, but many doctors don't know how to recognise and treat it, warn researchers, after the seventh consecutive annual increase in the US. Syphilis now infects 12 million people worldwide every year, mostly through sexual contact, Reuters reports. Homosexual and bisexual men accounted for 64 per cent of cases in the US last year, up from about 5 per cent in 1999. Centres for Disease Control researchers say the rate is now rising among heterosexuals in the US and Europe.
Teenage girls at risk of STDs
At least one in four teenage girls in the US has been infected with a sexually transmitted disease (STD), and an estimated 3.2 million are infected, says the Centres for Disease Control, based on a study of about 800 teens. The most common STD among the group was the human papillomavirus, then chlamydia, trichomoniasis and herpes, AFP reports.
Cocaine users in emergency alert
Young people admitted to hospital emergency rooms with breathing problems should be asked if they've been using cocaine, warns the American Heart Association. The symptoms can be similar but some heart attack treatments can be deadly to cocaine users. Cocaine rarely causes heart attacks, but it