Gay men in San Francisco are being warned by that city’s Department of Public Health to get vaccinated for meningitis seven to 10 days before having sex with gay men from Los Angeles. The warning is in response to a Los Angeles County Department of Public Health announcement on April 2 that eight people had been discovered since the first of the year to have been infected with invasive meningoccal disease. Four of those men were gay, and three of those four, ages 27 and 28, died of the disease. All of them lived in or socialized in West Hollywood or North Hollywood, the health department said. The San Francisco health department said there have been no cases of meningitis involving gay men in that city since 2011. In contrast, the LA County Health Department said there have been 11 case of meningitis involving gay men in Los Angeles County in the past 18 months — a third of the total number of cases. The San Francisco warning said that “meningococcal vaccination should be offered to San Francisco MSM and male-to-female transgender persons, regardless of HIV status, who expect close or intimate contact with MSM currently residing in, or traveling from Los Angeles County. To achieve protection, vaccination should be completed at least 7-10 days prior to potential exposure.” MSM is an acronym used by government agencies that stands for “men who have sex with men.”
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