I recently received a letter from my attorney (who works primarily with clients in the adult industry) on a photo issue, but in it he also mentioned the following as a recommended FYI (notification For Your Information)

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quote:

It's recently come to my attention that there is an increasing incidence of a way-underreported viral disease originating from Africa, but now found in Chicago and the East Coast in the printed academic literature - that is difficult to catch - but passes through unprotected sexual activity - and remains in semen six weeks after the disease afflicts someone. It's called Lassa Fever, and you've find info about it through Google, including stuff from the Centers for Disease Control. It's capable of being fatal, and it frequently is in Africa, less so here. The real trouble is that it causes deafness in 25% of its victims - often severe deafness of a permanent nature. The doctors here who deal with unexplained cases of sudden deafness - and there about 5,000 per year in the US - are now thinking that Lassa Fever is the cause - well, not exactly the cause, but on account of the body's immune reaction to the virus - depositing protein in the inner ear in a way that kills the ability of the cochlea to hear, and leaving the victim permanently deaf. The severity of the acute disease has no relation to the onset of deafness, and the individual may never even know he was sick, though in some cases the symptoms include bloody mucosa, chest pain, and other nasty symptoms. One more reason to use condoms. You would do your readers a service by posting something about this disease - it's virtually unknown in the US, but presents a most serious risk from unprotected sex.

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Thanks for passing that along. As if there wasn't enough to worry about... Kind of reminds me of that comic routine from the early 80's (Eddie Murphy?) where he was talking about the progression of STDs, leading to HIV, and then said "What's next? You stick your dick in and explode?"

Could you or your attorney provide links to where this information is coming from? What I am reading about Lassa fever (admittedly, after only spending a small amount of time googling) indicates it is a serious disease, but the information I found doesn't really seem to correspond to some of what is reported above.

Most particularly, it seems the claim it is transmitted by sexual contact is controversial and not well-established. Also, given there have only been two confirmed cases in the United States, citing the 5,000 cases of sudden deafness as possibly related to the disease seems like wild speculation, particularly given sudden deafness is not one of the generally acknowledged symptoms of the disease as far as I can tell. But then again, it is a very serious disease (like many other viral hemorrhagic fevers) and precautions certainly should be taken to prevent getting it (particularly if one if traveling in certain parts of Africa), although wearing condoms when having sex does not appear to be one of the primary recommended precautions for this particular disease.

But as above, I have only spent a few minutes checking this disease out on the internet, and there may be some breaking news I didn't find. So, please provide the sources for the information (other than that it is hearsay from your attorney).

(Message edited by laguy on March 03, 2011)

Rush Limbaugh can probably confirm this, but I have not heard about it on his show.

Wow! An info sex disease web site where you get both puta and health information.

I think Hombe is missing out and needs to go public,

MM

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/spb/mnpages/dispages/lassaf.htm

I spoke with a couple of infectious disease researchers and they laughed about the Lassa Fever warning. They said there have been about 4 cases total in the US, all involving traveling Africans, and none resulted in the spread of the disease. IT can be sexually spread, but is so rare here or anywhere outside of West Africa that they thought it hilarious that someone would be concerned.

It's just Hombre going the extra mile to protect us from disease, like he does with those little black triangles that keep the microbes from jumping out of the screen at us.

Hunterman:

Maybe Hombre could get us a discount on body condoms. I hope they will be the really sensitive kind.

MM