FROM ALERTS ABOUT DRUG RESISTANT GONORRHEA TO WARNINGS ABOUT CONGENITAL SYPHILIS. THE AIDS HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION USES THIS BILLBOARD ALONG WEST 28TH STREET TO TURN HEADS AND START CONVERSATIONS. THAT’S WHAT THEY’RE INTENDED TO DO. THEY’RE INTENDED TO CATCH YOUR EYE AND BE ALARMING AND GET YOU TO START THINKING ABOUT THINGS THAT YOU DON’T NORMALLY THINK ABOUT. THEIR LATEST EYE CATCHING BILLBOARD IS A WARNING ABOUT EYE SYPHILIS. SYPHILIS RATES THEMSELVES ARE ON THE RISE, AND PRETTY DRAMATICALLY OVER THE PAST, LIKE FOUR YEARS OF REPORTING THAT WE HAVE, THEY’VE ALMOST DOUBLED IN THEIR INCIDENCE ACROSS THE UNITED STATES. THERE ARE CERTAIN TYPES, CERTAIN STRAINS OF SYPHILIS THAT ARE MORE PRONE TO TO INFECT THE EYE OR TO HAVE LESIONS IN THE EYE AS GENERAL SYPHILIS RATES RISE NATIONALLY, SO DO OCULAR SYPHILIS RATES. THE INFECTION DISPROPORTIONATELY IMPACTS BLACK PEOPLE, WHO MAKE UP 32% OF THE CASES. BUT ONLY 13.6% OF THE TOTAL POPULATION. IT IS MOST COMMON AMONG PEOPLE 65 AND OVER. THOSE WHO REPORT INJECTION DRUG USE AND THOSE WHO ARE HIV POSITIVE. STILL, OCULAR SYPHILIS ONLY ACCOUNTS FOR ABOUT 1% OF ALL SYPHILIS CASES, BUT THE EFFECTS CAN BE DRAMATIC. IT CAN CAUSE BLINDNESS AND SO WE WANT TO DRAW PEOPLE’S ATTENTION TO SOME OF THESE MORE ALARMING, UM, MAYBE ICKY OR SCARY PARTS OF STDS BECAUSE THEY DON’T OFTEN THINK ABOUT STDS AT ALL. BUT WHEN YOU DRIVE PAST THIS BILLBOARD, MICHAEL MCVICKER WEVER HOPES YOU’LL START TO THINK ABOUT THE RISKS OF STIS LIKE EYE SYPHILIS AND ACT. FIRST OF ALL, WE WANT THEM TO BE LIKE SOMETHING WRONG WITH MY EYES THAT, YOU KNOW, DOES THAT LOOK RIGHT? YOU KNOW, WHAT AM I SEEING HERE? AND THEN AND THEN THEY’RE LIKE, OH, I SYPHILIS. OH THAT’S THAT’S GROSS. I NEED TO GO GET THAT. I NEED TO GET MY EYES CHECKED. I NEED TO GET MY STD TESTING. AND THEN THE CALL TO ACTION, OF COURSE, IS TO COME AND GET TESTED, BUT DO IT ON A ROUTINE BASIS. I’
AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s billboard aims to raise awareness about eye syphilis
Updated: 4:57 PM EDT Jul 8, 2024
From alerts about drug-resistant gonorrhea to warnings about congenital syphilis, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation is using a billboard on West 28th Street in Remington to turn heads and start conversations.”They are intended to catch your eye and be alarming and get you to start thinking about things that you don’t want to think about,” said Michel McVicker-Weaver, the regional director for the AHF.The organization’s latest eye-catching billboard warns of eye syphilis.”Syphilis rates are on the rise pretty dramatically over the past four years of reporting that we have almost doubled in their incidents across the United States,” McVicker-Weaver told 11 News. “There are certain strains of syphilis that are more prone to infect the eye or to have lesions of the eye.”AHF data indicates ocular syphilis rates are rising as general syphilis cases rise. An AHF report indicates the infection disproportionately impacts Black people, who make up 32% of the cases but only 13.6% of the total population. It is most common among people 65 and over, those who report injection drug use and those who are HIV-positive.Still, ocular syphilis accounts for a small percentage of all syphilis cases. “As far as ocular syphilis goes, it’s only about 1% of syphilis cases, but it is a real thing and it does have dramatic effects,” McVicker-Weaver told 11 News. “It can cause blindness, so we want to draw people’s attention to some of these more alarming, maybe a little icky or scary parts of STDs because they don’t often think about STDs at all.”So, when you drive past the eye syphilis billboard on West 28th Street, McVicker-Weaver hopes you’ll start to think about the risks of STDs, like eye syphilis. “First of all, we want them to be like, ‘There’s something wrong with my eyes? Does that look right? What am I seeing here?’ And, then, they are like, ‘Eye syphilis? That’s gross. I need to go get my eyes checked. I need to get my STD testing.’ And, then, the call to action, of course, is to come in and get tested but do it on the routine basis,” McVicker-Weaver told 11 News.The AHF provides free testing. For more information, visit the following website.
From alerts about drug-resistant gonorrhea to warnings about congenital syphilis, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation is using a billboard on West 28th Street in Remington to turn heads and start conversations.
“They are intended to catch your eye and be alarming and get you to start thinking about things that you don’t want to think about,” said Michel McVicker-Weaver, the regional director for the AHF.
The organization’s latest eye-catching billboard warns of eye syphilis.
“Syphilis rates are on the rise pretty dramatically over the past four years of reporting that we have almost doubled in their incidents across the United States,” McVicker-Weaver told 11 News. “There are certain strains of syphilis that are more prone to infect the eye or to have lesions of the eye.”
AHF data indicates ocular syphilis rates are rising as general syphilis cases rise. An AHF report indicates the infection disproportionately impacts Black people, who make up 32% of the cases but only 13.6% of the total population. It is most common among people 65 and over, those who report injection drug use and those who are HIV-positive.
Still, ocular syphilis accounts for a small percentage of all syphilis cases.
“As far as ocular syphilis goes, it’s only about 1% of syphilis cases, but it is a real thing and it does have dramatic effects,” McVicker-Weaver told 11 News. “It can cause blindness, so we want to draw people’s attention to some of these more alarming, maybe a little icky or scary parts of STDs because they don’t often think about STDs at all.”
So, when you drive past the eye syphilis billboard on West 28th Street, McVicker-Weaver hopes you’ll start to think about the risks of STDs, like eye syphilis.
“First of all, we want them to be like, ‘There’s something wrong with my eyes? Does that look right? What am I seeing here?’ And, then, they are like, ‘Eye syphilis? That’s gross. I need to go get my eyes checked. I need to get my STD testing.’ And, then, the call to action, of course, is to come in and get tested but do it on the routine basis,” McVicker-Weaver told 11 News.
The AHF provides free testing. For more information, visit the following website.
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