LOS ANGELES: Officials Report Possible Cases Of Rare Ocular Syphillis Strain

Via the Los Angeles Times:

Public health officials across the West Coast are urging medical professionals to look out for cases of ocular syphilis – a sexually transmitted disease that can cause blindness – after two potential cases in Los Angeles recently. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health issued an advisory for primary and eye-care providers to look out for symptoms associated with the disease, which is usually a complication of primary or secondary syphilis infections. With more than a dozen cases – most of them among gay men – reported between Seattle and San Francisco and now potentially two in Southern California, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation is calling for medical professionals to do more. Some of the patients also are HIV positive, including six in San Francisco. In Seattle, two of the patients went blind.

My report on the Seattle cases is here.