State health officials are warning Florida residents to be aware of a large outbreak of meningococcal disease, a deadly illness cause by a bacterial infection disease that is highly dangerous and sometime fatal, ABC News reports.
The bacteria is passed from person to person through close body contact, including kissing. The outbreak in Florida has sickened 21 people since the beginning of the year, a total that is typically the five year average for the state. This outbreak is primarily hitting gay and bisexual men in Florida, hinting that Patient Zero is likely a gay man who either lives in or visited Florida in the first part of the year.
“[Florida Department of Health] epidemiologists are investigating each case as well as contacting people with potential or direct exposure to known cases to provide them with information and treatment options,” the department said in a statement that did not include the word “gay,” apparently in compliance with Republican Governor Ron DeSantis’s wish that the state un-person the LGBTQ community.
The spread of the meningococcal bacteria can be prevented by people who are at risk getting a safe vaccine, and surprisingly, the Florida Department of Health endorsed the idea that people should get vaccines, without having the state Surgeon General Joseph A. Lapado mentioning demon semen or alien DNA.