MILWAUKEE COUNTY

Outreach, testing urged as Milwaukee leaders respond to HIV, syphilis cluster

Mary Spicuzza
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Behavior that can lead to sexually transmitted infections is one of the most urgent issues parents should talk to their children about as city leaders respond to the dramatic spread of HIV and syphilis here, said Michael Gifford, president and CEO of the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin.

Gifford was among a dozen health leaders who discussed the HIV and syphilis cluster in Milwaukee that has affected at least 127 individuals, including young teens. The group held a news conference at City Hall on Tuesday to show they are committed to taking action.

"We must act as if the lives of our children depend on it," Gifford said. "After all, they do."

Some 40% to 50% of high school age youths are sexually active, he said.

"Every parent that is aware of this needs to think about how urgent is it for my child," Gifford said. "This can happen to any child in any school setting or outside the setting. It's very urgent and parents need to act today."

While health agencies said they were providing testing and medical care, Gifford warned that parents need to be more involved in the educational component.

"We expect parents to act when it comes to young people driving safely and wearing a seat belt. We expect parents to talk about the risk associated with smoking. We expect parents to talk about the risk of underage drinking or drinking too much, but there is no expectations on talking to kids about issues of sexual behaviors that can lead to STIs, HIV and premature death," Gifford said.

The Journal Sentinel first reported last week that there was a social network of at least 125 people — including a few high school students — that had been identified, many of whom had contracted HIV, syphilis or both in one of the largest STI clusters ever discovered in Milwaukee.

Three local babies were also born with syphilis last year.

Those facing the greatest risk from the cluster include men who have sex with men; minorities; those who inject drugs; and human trafficking victims.

"Some of our most vulnerable communities are the communities that are affected by this," Common Council President Ashanti Hamilton said.

He and other city leaders urged people to use protection, get tested, know their status and communicate with their sexual partners. They also urged people to fight the stigma around the issue.

"Much of this is about the intersection of racism and homophobia that continue to be pervasive in our community," said Kofi Short of Diverse & Resilient.

The cluster, or social network, was identified late last year. It involves at least 127 people, including 76 who tested positive for syphilis, HIV or both, said Angela Hagy, the city's director of disease control and environmental health. It includes 19 people who tested positive for syphilis, 24 people who had syphilis and HIV, and 33 people who tested positive for HIV, she said.

Another 25 people tested negative for both, and 26 couldn't be contacted or were unwilling to be tested, Hagy said.

A cluster is an aggregation of disease closely grouped in time and place. This cluster was identified as such because the people in it could all be connected and were in contact with each other during a 12-month, identifiable period, health officials say. 

"The spike in the Milwaukee HIV STI cases is especially concerning to the City of Milwaukee Health Department because of a handful of youth who were newly diagnosed with HIV or syphilis," Health Commissioner Patricia McManus said.

On Tuesday, Broderick Pearson, a community advocate who attended the news conference, said he had a mixed response to the information provided.

"They did enlighten the community as far as media-wise of what is going on, but did they address the needs to reach the vulnerable populations? No," he said.

It's really difficult to get the most vulnerable populations tested and into care because they are often already dealing with many social and economic problems, he said. 

"I wanted to hear how we are going to put these back burner issues on the forefront," Pearson said. "And right now, unfortunately, that did not get conveyed to me at this meeting."

Gifford said he understands the challenges of reaching a vulnerable population, so the AIDS Resource Center announced a $250,000 HIV/STI prevention leadership fund that is designed to target different organizations to come up with new strategies to reach those individuals. 

Gifford said it is time for unique ideas that would likely include a social media presence and more condoms and testing in schools.

Social media makes it much harder to prevent the spread of HIV and STIs, and numerous websites and apps have made it easier to engage in risky sex, he said.

“Their phone itself can be a risk,” because it gives people unlimited access to things that they could not see 10 years ago, he said.

The AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin and other community groups in Milwaukee are also offering expanded hours for free and confidential testing for sexually transmitted infections.

Council president Council president Ashanti Hamilton and community groups gathered at City Hall calling on city officials to do more to respond to the HIV and syphilis cluster in Milwaukee.

That's in addition to the free, confidential STI testing offered at the city's Keenan Health Center and Northwest Health Center.

RELATED:HIV, syphilis cluster affecting at least 125 people discovered in Milwaukee

The cluster is just one part of Milwaukee's struggles with sexually transmitted infections. Preliminary numbers from 2017 show the city saw 117 newly diagnosed cases of HIV, 53 cases of syphilis, 4,401 cases of gonorrhea, and 9,725 cases of chlamydia, Hagy said.

When it comes to STIs, Milwaukee leads the nation in several categories. The Milwaukee area ranked first in the nation in gonorrhea rates; fourth in chlamydia; and is ranked as one of the worst places for HIV for men of color under the age of 25.

Milwaukee — like the rest of the nation — has experienced a spike in STIs. In the past week alone, counties in Pennsylvania reported spikes in HIV and gonorrhea and Arizona reported spikes in chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis.