“Las infecciones de transmisión sexual llevan 10 años subiendo y alcanzaron en 2024 (últimos año con datos epidemiológicos definitivos) su nivel más alto jamás registrado. Si no se tratan, estas infecciones pueden provocar complicaciones severas, como dolores crónicos e infertilidad. En el caso de la sífilis, problemas cardiovasculares y neurológicos. Lo más preocupante es que entre 2023 y 2024 vemos que casi se duplica la sífilis congenital, cuando la infección pasa directamente a los recién nacidos, dando pie a complicaciones de por vida”. Las palabras de Bruno Ciancio, alto cargo del Centro Europeo de Control y Prevención de Enfermedades (ECDC, en sus siglas en inglés), marcan el informe de este año de su agencia, que se hizo famosa durante la pandemia del coronavirus.

Los datos del ECDC muestran que las infecciones de transmisión sexual registraron niveles récord en Europa en 2024, sobre todo por el aumento de la gonorrea y la sífilis. En 2024 hubo notificaciones de 106.331 casos de gorronea, un incremento del 303% con respecto a 2015. La sífilis aumentó más del doble hasta 45.577 casos en el mismo período. Enfermedades que se consideraban prácticamente erradicadas vuelven a pasearse por Europa. ¿A qué se debe? La ECDC señala varias razones, pero sobre todo una: las generaciones menores de 40 años han perdido el miedo a enfermedades sexuales que el VIH provocó en las generaciones mayores.

La ECDC señala otras razones, que van desde la reducción de programas de prevención en algunos países europeos hasta cambios en los comportamientos sexuales pasando por la cada vez mayor popularidad de la mezcla de sexo con el uso de sustancias psicoactivas, la reducción del acceso a medicamentos contra esas infecciones y a un aumento de la desigualdad en el acceso a los cuidados médicos.

El aumento en la incidencia de infecciones como la sífilis y la gonorrea se daba tradicionalmente en Europa (y en otros continentes) en momentos como guerras, migraciones masivas, extrema pobreza y otras alternaciones socioeconómicas graves. La primera gran crisis de sífilis en Europa coincidió con la campaña militar italiana contra el rey francés Carlos VIII en 1494 y 1495. Decenas de miles de soldados viajaban junto a mercenarios, mercaderes y prostitutas, dando pie a condiciones en las que era muy fácil que se extendieran las infecciones.

Esas infecciones volvieron a crecer en cada gran campaña militar y, ya en el siglo XIX, cuando la revolución industrial hizo crecer las ciudades, generó masas de migrantes hacia ellas y condiciones de vida insalubres. En esa época la incidencia de la gonorrea llegó al 20% de la población de algunas ciudades europeas. Durante la Primera Guerra Mundial las enfermedades venéreas llegaron a afectar a casi 20.000 soldados estadounidenses cada día.

El descubrimiento de la penicilina, recuerda la ECDC en 1928 y su uso masivo a partir de 1940, y la llegada de los antibióticos después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial cambiaron los tratamientos. Si antes un enfermo de gonorrea podía pasar unos 30 días hospitalizado, desde que los antibióticos se generalizaron ese tratamiento dura cinco días y no necesita hospitalización. Tras la Segunda Guerra Mundial las tasas de incidencia de la gonorrea y la sífilis cayeron con fuerza en Europa, por esos antibióticos, por la popularización de los métodos anticonceptivos y por la mejora en los sistemas de salud.

La revolución sexual de finales de los años 60 del siglo pasado provocó un ligero aumento en la incidencia de las enfermedades de transmisión sexual, que volvieron a caer cuando en los años 80 estalló la epidemia del VIH. Se hicieron masivas campañas de salud sexual y se controlaron las infecciones. Pero sobre todo, cientos de millones de personas tomaron conciencia del peligro de esas enfermedades. El VIH mataba gente joven, saludable y no había tratamiento disponible para frenar la enfermedad. Las campañas para popularizar el uso del condón de latex fueron masivas. Los españoles todavía recuerdan el “Póntelo, pónselo”.

A partir del cambio de siglo la tendencia cambió. La incipiente popularidad del chemsex (sexo acompañado del uso de sustancias psicoactivas) y los ajustes de gasto en los sistemas sanitarios tras la crisis financiera de 2008 empezaron a hacer que las infecciones crecieran. El fin de la pandemia del coronavirus provocó otro aumento en casi toda Europa, que se ha ido acelerando en los últimos años. La ECDC señala incluso a la aparición de las aplicaciones móviles de citas.

Former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke recently told a conservative media outlet that he agrees with a Democratic congressional nominee on an unlikely issue: interracial marriage.

Darializa Avila Chevalier, who recently won the Democratic primary in New York’s 13th Congressional District, attracted controversy on the campaign trail for a deleted 2019 social media post where she attacked «Black men» and «Arab men» for «fetishizing ugly colonizer women.» 

The sentiment won praise from Duke.

«Well, I think that people have the right to preserve their particular heritage,» the former KKK leader told the Washington Free Beacon in a phone interview. «And if she’s concerned about preserving her heritage if it’s Somali, or whatever she is, she’s certainly got the right to do that.» 

MAMDANI-BACKED SOCIALIST IN HOT SEAT AGAIN OVER DELETED POSTS PRAISING COMMUNISM, MARXISM: ‘CRAZYPANTS’

Chevalier identifies as Afro-Latina. She was also part of a cohort of socialist candidates endorsed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani who swept New York’s June Democratic primary elections.

Duke served in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1989 to 1992 after years of involvement in extremist politics. He was grand wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan from 1974 to 1980, a title used by the organization for its national leader.

Even before Duke went public with his praise for Chevalier, some political observers were making connections between the two.

«Chevalier is our David Duke,» one unnamed Democrat told journalist Mark Halperin in June. «She is poisoning the possibility of a Democratic majority.»  

JAMES CARVILLE SAYS SOCIALIST DEMOCRAT SHOULDN’T BE IN THE PARTY, CALLS HER VIEWS ‘A BRIDGE TOO FAR’

Former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke recently told a conservative media outlet that he agrees with a Democratic congressional nominee on an unlikely issue: interracial marriage. (Adam Gray/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Former Republican congressman Peter Meijer said Monday on X that «the difference is that the modern Democratic Party would never do to Chevalier what the GOP did to David Duke.»

Duke infamously ran as a Republican in the 1991 Louisiana gubernatorial election after placing second in the state’s nonpartisan jungle primary. Amid national controversy, the GOP refused to endorse Duke, backing Democrat Edwin Edwards instead.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, meanwhile, congratulated Chevalier on her primary victory in a Saturday social media post. New York’s 13th Congressional District is heavily Democratic, making it very likely that Chevalier will be elected to the House of Representatives in November.

HUNDREDS OF RABBIS DEMAND MAMDANI APOLOGIZE FOR PUTTING ‘TARGET’ ON AMERICAN JEWS WITH AIPAC ‘MONSTER’ REMARKS

In this Saturday, July 8, 2017 photo, Klan members salute during a KKK rally in Justice Park, in Charlottesville, Va. The number of Ku Klux Klan chapters in the U.S. is plummeting as a new generation of khaki-clad racists rejects hoods and robes for a «hipper» brand of hate, according to a report Wednesday by an organization that tracks far-right extremists. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) ( )

Duke has had kind words for a number of Democrats in recent years, citing their shared distaste for Israel.

«By defiance to (Zionist occupied government) Ilhan Omar is NOW the most important Member of the US Congress!» Duke wrote on his website in 2019 after Rep. Ilhan Omar was accused of implying that Jewish lawmakers have a dual loyalty to Israel.

Duke has called Jews «a blight» who should «go into the ashcan of history.»

The one-time KKK leader also praised Mamdani in his interview with the Free Beacon.

«I think that the new mayor of New York was a step forward,» Duke said, according to the outlet, though he noted he disagrees with him on immigration policy. «His views on Israel are critical, because there’s no more important political issue than the fact that a tiny minority of America … the oligarchs of the Jewish people, that they are controlling our foreign policy.»

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The episode highlights a potential political vulnerability for some progressive Democrats, who face mounting scrutiny over allegations of antisemitism within their ranks. Duke’s praise for Chevalier — and his support for other Democrats who have drawn accusations of antisemitism — give critics in both parties a new opening to attack the Democratic Party’s young and ascendant socialist wing.

The Chevalier campaign did not respond to a request for comment when reached by Fox News Digital Thursday.

An 11-year-old boy died of a rabies infection in Ontario, Canada, according to a medical journal article published Monday.

The Canadian Medical Association Journal did not identify the boy or his family but wrote that he was first brought to a hospital weeks after an encounter with a bat.

«The patient’s family reported that, during a visit to a cottage in northern Ontario 19 days before symptom onset, the boy had been awoken by a bat on his nose and mouth. He had swatted the bat off his face; his father had caught the bat in a cooking pot and released it outside,» CMAJ wrote.

MEASLES-INFECTED TRAVELER MAY HAVE EXPOSED PASSENGERS AT LAX AND NEARBY HOTEL, HEALTH OFFICIALS WARN

«The child had no visible lesions on his face, and his parents did not consider that the bat had behaved erratically. Therefore, they did not seek medical assessment,» the journal noted.

The boy was ultimately admitted to a hospital 20 days after the encounter with the bat, when his parents brought him to an emergency room. He was first sent home but then brought back the following morning and admitted to the hospital.

Rabies vaccination (iStock)

Doctors noted that the boy’s condition «rapidly worsened» by the evening, but he spent more than two weeks in the hospital before dying.

MEASLES-INFECTED TRAVELER MAY HAVE EXPOSED PASSENGERS AT LAX AND NEARBY HOTEL, HEALTH OFFICIALS WARN

«By day 5 of admission, his brainstem reflexes were absent. Life-sustaining therapies were withdrawn on day 17 of admission, and he died peacefully with his family at his bedside,» the journal article said.

Doctors who authored the article warned that any direct human contact with a bat, even in the absence of a visible bite or scratch, should be discussed with public health authorities.

This photo taken Nov. 1, 2018, shows veterinarian Amy Keith giving Lincoln a rabies shot as veterinary nurse and Veterinarian Assistant Nate Johnson feed Lincoln cheese wiz at Valley West Veterinary Hospital in Charleston, W. Va.  (Craig Hudson/Charleston Gazette-Mail via AP)

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Rabies is almost always fatal in humans if not treated quickly with postexposure prophylaxis, or PEP. The treatment is nearly always successful if administered promptly after exposure.