Impulse, a group of gay men that promotes safer sex, will host a town hall meeting tonight to address questions people have about meningitis.
The meeting, at 7 p.m., will be held at the West Hollywood Park Community Hall at 647 San Vicente Blvd. at Santa Monica.
Dr. Parveen Kaur, an AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) specialist on infectious disease, will be on hand to answer questions about bacterial meningitis, which has resulted in three deaths of Southern California men since December.
Vaccinations will also be offered at the meeting. AHF has provided 3,357 free vaccinations in West Hollywood and Hollywood since April 15, and says it will continue to provide free vaccines this week at its AHF Hollywood Men’s Wellness Center at 1300 N. Vermont Ave., Suite 407, Los Angeles.
Jet City Jim – I suggest you read the article in this publication “https://staging.wehoville.com/2013/04/20/la-county-health-department-finds-no-link-between-weho-meningitis-death-and-those-in-nyc-and-la/”
Jet City Jim: What a refreshing comment. Acknowledging that smooching may happen faster in some situations than others without stigmatizing the smoochers is a leap forward in discussing such matters. (This smooching BTW was quite common in the straight community in the mid-late 70’s – I can say this with first hand knowledge). Therefore your point is well made and so far is the first one I have read or heard that sounds totally reasonable. I do believe the meningitis to be bacterial – but it hardly matters in this particular instance, with an effective vaccine. What a great comment.… Read more »
Agreed Chloe, however this seems to be a particularly virulent strain of meningitis (which I understood to be viral, not bacterial) that kills so quickly, people dont even seek treatment the initial symptoms are similar to flu. This particular strain has been affecting gay men in New York and now Los Angeles. For those of us who remember when AIDS (gay cancer!) first came about in the early 80s, this outbreak has disturbing commonalities. From an epidemiological standpoint, it’s important to communicate this to the gay community, which has a tendency to get more intimate with each other, faster, than… Read more »
I am delighted that there is increased awareness of bacterial meningitis – but why does it seems that some want to make this a “gay” disease? We know that HIV is not a “gay” disease. That there is no “gay” disease because people who are gay live in all our comminities and are multinationals, religions, ethnicities and gender. I am entirely in favor of a broad education for the public about contagious or communicable diseases but there is not an epidemic of bacterial meningitis nor is it confined to any particular group. I suspect groups of people of any gender… Read more »