Terrifying holiday surge of sexual disease usually found in horses | UK | News
A rotting skin disease that usually affects horses has been found in humans in many European holiday destinations. Dermatophilosis, also known as ‘rain rot’, is a bacterial infection found in livestock such as sheep, cows and horses in the warmer tropical regions of the planet. However, it has been determined that this terrible condition, which causes itchy, pus-filled spots on the face and genitals, is now also seen in gay men in France and Spain.
Disease preventionists found clusters of men showing symptoms at sexual health clinics in Lyon, France, and Barcelona, Spain. The Spanish city is one of Brits’ most popular destinations for city breaks, with around 620,000 British travelers heading to the Catalan capital each year. Around 160,000 people from the UK go to Lyon on holiday every year.
Doctors have detected 25 cases so far in Lyon and surrounding areas, as well as Paris and Bordeaux. At least nine cases were recorded in Barcelona and one case each was detected in Türkiye and Italy.
None of the affected men had been in contact with livestock or traveled to tropical regions where infection is common. Affected animals are often kept in poor conditions where the combination of hot and humid weather helps trigger infection.
According to the news of Güneş, Demetre Daskalakis, former director of HIV prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said there may be a link to sexual encounters that occur in saunas.
He said: “This is a good time for saunas to make sure they do a lot of cleaning but I think this also appeals to the men who attend these venues.
“I guess this [about] Making sure they do everything they need for hygiene and making sure they shower after encounters, etc.”
In a report published on Emerging Sexual DiseasesThe lead author is Dr. Thomas, an internal medicine specialist at the Drassanes-Hospital Vall d’Hebron STI/HIV unit in Barcelona, Spain. Vicente Descalzo wrote: “… this cluster of genetically closely related dermatophilosis cases within sexual networks suggests that this condition may present as a sexually transmitted infection, although environmental transmission cannot be excluded.”
“Because clinical signs may be nonspecific and laboratory identification is rare in STI clinics, cases may remain unrecognized.
“Cross-border surveillance can help determine whether similar cases are occurring elsewhere.”
