GIARDIASIS AND GAY MALES

WORCESTER, MA. Medical researchers have recently published a report showing a definite link between male homosexuals and an intestinal parasite called Giardia lamblia, according to Lucy Candib, M.D., a lesbian physician associated with Worcester's Family Health and Social Service Center.

Candib referred GCN to a report entitled "Giardiasis: Association with Homosexuality." published in the June 1978 Annals of Internal Medicine, a respected medical journal published by the American College of Physicians. The article was authored by Michael J. Schmerin, Thomas C. Jones and Harvey Klein, three New York doctors.

While giardiasis, the ailmen: caused by the presence of the parasite, is most often found in people who travel to infested areas, the doctors report that the disease is reported with growing frequency by homosexual men who do not travel. The authors note that "rectal intercourse followed by oral-genital sex or oral-rectal sexual activity could provide the mode of transmission of giar-

NO ON 6!

Dear Friend:

Supporters of the Briggs Initiative, Proposition 6 on the November ballot in California, say is aimed at removing lesbians and gay men who teach and work in our public schools. But it goes even farther than that.

Anyone, regardless of whether she or he is gay, could be fired merely for expressing support for gay people or for discussing homosexuality. Anyone who is accused of the vague charge of "homosexual behavior" could be suspended immediately and eventually fired. Professional careers could be destroyed by innuendo.

Proposition 6 would legitimize witchhunts in our schools and would subject the private lives of school workers to unprecedented public scrutiny and government interference. This assault on free expression and personal privacy is only the latest episode in an alarming resurgence of reactionary attitudes in the United States.

Many effective groups and projects are now being organized around the state to fight against the Initiative. And,

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HIGH GEAR/SEPTEMBER 1978

diasis in the homosexual population."

According to the article, "most patients have abdominal complaints of mild to moderate degree that include foulsmelling, loose, frequent stools associated with nausea and crampy abdominal pain. A modest weight loss is also noted, depending on the duration of symptoms."

Dr. Candib recommends that men experiencing such symptoms have their stool examined for the presence of Giardia lamblia. She noted that stool specimens must be fresh and warm.

She said she did not know whether VD clinics were prepared to examine patients for giardiasis, which, like hepatitis, amoebiasis and shigellosis, is only now beginning to be classified as a venereal disease.

Problems with intestinal parasites among gay men have previously been reported in San Francisco and subsequently on the east coast.

Giardiasis is usually transmitted through contaminated water. It has been found to be a common parasitic infection of

because many persons who would like to help don't know where to go, A UNITED FUND was set up to bring together the resources.

We will disperse the money we raise to the many groups and we are committed to the ongoing fight against discrimination, even after the election in November.

Now, we are calling on you for help. The campaign will be hard and expensive. Everyone who is concerned with individual rights will have to be involved. The whole country will be looking to California to see whether the right wing attack on lesbians and gay men will continue unchecked.

Please contribute as much as 'you can to help us in this vital defense of the rights of us all. Thank you.

Harvey Milk Supervisor

City and County of San Francisco

Sally Gearhart Professor | San Francisco State University

VD... STOP IT...

BEFORE IT

STOPS YOU!

courtesy of Gay Community News, 7/29/78

travelers. In recent years, the ailment has been epidemic among travelers to Leningrad, Soviet Union; skiers in Aspen, Colo, and residents of Boulder, Colo.

The doctors noted that giardiasis is often asymptomatic, and they suggest that the patient's partners, even if they have no intestinal problems, be contacted to have their stool specimen examined, as they could transmit the disease to others without knowing that they have it. They also recommend that patients with giardiasis be screened "for other venereal diseases that have a high prevalence in the homosexual population, including syphilis, gonorrhea. amebiasis, shegellosis and hepatitis."

The tone of the article was not anti-homosexual; the doctors merely seemed concerned with combatting venereal disease among gay men. "When isolated," they write, "Giaradia lamblia should be considered a pathogen and should be treated with quinacrine, 100 mg three times daily for 5 to 7 days or metronidazole, 250 mg three times daily for 10 days. Stool examination should be obtained after completion of treatment."

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