In The News
ROME, Jan. 22 -- After several days of unusual public debate among senior figures in the Roman Catholic Church, Pope John Paul II on Saturday reaffirmed church teaching that urges abstinence and marital fidelity to stop the spread of AIDS and forbids condoms.
As the recent Aids scare continues to cast a shadow over North America's adult entertainment industry, male stars are standing firm ahead of a possible showdown with health officials.
HIV infections of two porn stars has prompted local health authorities to seek unprecedented inspections of California's multibillion-dollar adult film industry and press for mandatory condom use during sex scenes.
NEWS that a 14-year-old girl from Mansfield had been allowed by advisers at her school to have a secret abortion without her mother's knowledge made national headlines last week. Today the Daily Post has revealed that Condom Solutions, a Cheshire-based company, wants to put condom machines into schools to try to destigmatise contraception for the young.
It's not just a cliche: Sex and drugs often do go together, says a survey of U.S. teenagers. Teens who say at least half their friends are having sex are more likely to report having tried marijuana, alcohol and cigarettes The annual survey, released Thursday, asked teens aged 12-17 about their use of illegal substances. Researchers then looked for other activities of daily life that were associated with such use.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Whether or not HIV -infected intravenous drug users (IDUs) disclose their status to their sex partners depends on different factors, according to a report in the journal AIDS Patient Care and STDs.
TAX on over-the-counter contraceptives, such as condoms and the morning-after pill, should be abolished in efforts to cut unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections, Government advisers said yesterday.
The Independent Advisory Group for Sexual Health and HIV said that VAT on all such contraceptives should be axed in order to promote consistent use.
Singapore will not sponsor a "publicity blitz" to promote condom use in order to prevent HIV transmission "out of respect" for residents who hold "conservative views" on sexual behavior, a senior health minister said on Sunday, AFP/Yahoo! News reports (AFP/Yahoo! News, 11/14).
Balaji Sadasivan, senior minister of state for the country's Ministry of Health, said that an "in-your-face" approach is not the best option to educate people about condoms use and HIV/AIDS in the country, Singapore's Straits Times reports (Quek, Straits Times, 11/14).
Some Illinois lawmakers and government officials are criticizing the distribution of free flavored condoms by the state health department, saying the "exotic" condoms hamper efforts to promote abstinence, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Sunday that the government should review federally funded sexual abstinence programs, under fire from Democrats who say they contain false and misleading medical information.
WASHINGTON - The consumers group best known for rating cars and washing machines has turned its testing prowess to condoms to find out which ones measure up best and how other birth control methods compare.
The nonprofit Consumers Union says in a new guide to contraception that the seven top types of condoms they studied did not burst despite vigorous testing, and all models met international standards.
That does not necessarily mean you should expect condoms from Planned Parenthood to result in unplanned parenthoods. All three of the group's branded condoms -- including one that received a score of "excellent" -- meet minimum safety standards, Consumer Reports said. It is just that two of the group's condoms scored the lowest among 23 kinds in the magazine's air-inflation tests that measured strength and reliability.
WASHINGTON - How should you talk to your children about sex? Tell them no sex, says a new government Web site that proclaims "abstinence is the healthiest choice." That's dictating values, say organizations including the American Civil Liberties Union and gay rights groups, and they want the site taken down.
Sex kills all the time, particularly here in Africa. But prudishness can be just as lethal. President Bush is focusing his program against AIDS in Africa on sexual abstinence and marital fidelity, relegating condoms to a distant third. It?s the kind of well-meaning policy that bubbles up out of a White House prayer meeting but that will mean a lot of unnecessary deaths on the ground in Africa.
California assemblyman Paul Koretz last week introduced a bill that would permit nonprofit and public health care organizations to distribute condoms in state prisons to help reduce HIV and sexually transmitted disease transmissions. Condoms are currently permitted only in Los Angeles County and San Francisco County jails in the state.
The growth of sexually transmitted diseases has become increasingly larger among college students in the United States. According to the New York State Department of Health, one in five teens gets a sexually transmitted disease each year in the United States. Also, the Alan Guttmacher Institute in New York stated that, "nationally, nearly one million young women under age 20 become pregnant each year. That means close to 2800 teens get pregnant each day." Although these statistics are escalating each year, many Catholic institutions do not provide students with the forms of contraception that can help prevent these statistics from increasing.
People in India are making good use of their condoms, but not in the way you might think. Only a quarter of condoms made in India are used for sex. The Economic Times newspaper reports the rest are used to make saris, toys and bathroom slippers.
The failure of the Food and Drug Administration to update warning labels on products containing the spermicide Nonoxynol-9 may increase the risk of contracting the AIDS virus among those who use the products, analysts at the Government Accountability Office have found.
Last year, when a profound schism erupted between the American scientific community and the Bush administration, a key point of contention concerned the alteration of sexual health information on several government Web sites. A National Cancer Institute fact sheet temporarily suggested the possibility of a link between abortion and breast cancer (scientists say with near unanimity that there isn't one). A statement explaining why educating teens about how to use condoms does not increase sexual activity was deleted from a Centers for Disease Control fact sheet. And so forth.
This is one of those stories that makes me wonder: How can anyone so stupid be in charge of education?
The Montgomery County, Md., school board is getting scorched by parents and churches for plans to teach 10th-graders how to put condoms on cucumbers, and teach eighth-graders that experimenting with homosexuality is as normal as white socks in gym class.
Condoms. They're rarely used for pleasure.
Rather, they act as a means of protection from pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
But one condom company wants to change the way some couples think of condoms -- as a hassle and pleasure barrier.
Ansell, based in Australia, is making novelty condoms to spice up sex lives while promoting safe sex. And it's working.
A California law granting domestic partners nearly identical legal rights as married couples does not conflict with a voter-approved ban on gay marriage, a state appeals court ruled.
California's domestic partner law represents the nation's most sweeping recognition of domestic partner rights short of Massachusetts, where gay marriage is legalized, and Vermont, which recognizes civil unions for gay couples. It grants registered couples virtually every spousal right under state law except the ability to file joint income taxes.
Most gay bars in New York City have stopped stocking free condoms, a dramatic turnaround from the earliest days of the AIDS epidemic when condoms were plentiful at most gay venues, The New York Times reports. HIV prevention literature, which also was at one time available at nearly every gay bar and club in the city, is now also increasingly difficult to find.
Perhaps the Bush administration has forgotten what it's like to be a teenager. The administration's idea of a good parental-child sex chat is outlined on government Web site 4parents.gov. This site advises parents to emphasize abstinence as the only way for students to completely protect themselves, and also features a questionable chart listing common STDs and the effectiveness of condoms.
One in five U.S. teenagers say they have engaged in oral sex, an activity that some adolescents view as not sex at all and certainly less risky than intercourse, according to a report obtained by Reuters.
The survey of 580 children with a mean age of 14-1/2 found 20 percent said they had engaged in oral sex, compared to 14 percent who said they had engaged in sexual intercourse, Reuters reported.
(New York City - The Associated Press) Posted: May 23, 2005 8:00 pm ET
A commission studying HIV/AIDS issued a list of recommendations Monday for containing the disease in New York City, including making condoms more widely available and pushing for more HIV testing.
Erasure's Andy Bell was one of the first pop stars to come out as being gay. And now the singer, perhaps best known as the voice behind the band's 1988 hit "Chains of Love," has become one of the first pop stars to come out as being HIV positive. Bell has known his status since June 1998, when he came down with a case of pneumonia, and was quite happy keeping the news to himself. But when speculation started last winter about his health ? especially surrounding his recent double hip replacement (which wasn't related to the virus, but had required a lot of medical care) ? Bell thought he'd set the record straight and try to erase some of the stigma at the same time.
Teenagers are confused over sexually transmitted infections
Teenagers are putting themselves at risk by inconsistent and incorrect use of condoms, a study says.
Only about a third of those aged 16 to 18 used condoms regularly, the sexual health charity Brook found.
The study also showed some were not using condoms properly and were using them only as a form of contraception, rather than to prevent infections.
Researchers called for sex and relationships education to become a compulsory part of the curriculum.
East High School junior Cary Shapiro keeps a condom in his wallet even though he says he's never had sex. He picked it up at a concert.
Shapiro is among students who say it's time for Denver Public Schools to make prophylactics available to all high school students who want them.
While much of the public?s attention is focused on young people contracting almost half of all new HIV and AIDS cases, there a growing HIV/AIDS problem developing among the elderly, a problem that will only grow worse as baby boomers reach retirement.
?I don?t think older people think of HIV at all except as something affecting young people and few places are trying to build up an information base and let them know that this affects everybody. We have to understand that everybody is liable to become infected,? said Bill Rydwels, a 73-year-old man that has been living with HIV for 20 years.
MISSION, Texas -- With at least six classmates pregnant, including the valedictorian with her second child, it was clear to a few girls at Mission High School that more information was needed on safe sex.
So the four students at this school along the Mexican border -- where the teen pregnancy rate is among the highest in the nation -- decided they could help send the message by making their own movie.
Roger Yeomas, a football player and honor-roll student at Godby High School, is a study in self-confidence.
Despite a culture steeped in sex, he's comfortable with his choice: It's OK to be a virgin.
"There's peer pressure out there, but there's nothing wrong with what I believe," said Yeomas, 18. "I don't want to be one of these young men running around with children or a sexually transmitted disease."
After spending more than $1.8 million for a temporary system to catch stray condoms slipping through a sewage treatment plant, a Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District spokesman says officials are fairly confident a majority of condoms are now being caught before they can reach Lake Michigan.
Bill Graffin commented Thursday, more than two years after a fisherman reported seeing what he called a slick of thousands of condoms floating in the lake following a heavy rainstorm in April of 2003.
JEFFERSON, Ind. ? Someone has sent condoms to high school seniors accompanied with a letter encouraging them to be safe on prom night, causing some parents to chuckle, while others are upset, officials said.
In the past week, nearly all the students in Clinton Prairie High School?s senior class have received letters containing the surprise, said David Larsh, the school?s principal.
Accompanying the prophylactic was a letter, which read as a warning for the Class of 2005 to be safe on prom night, which was held Saturday.
The sex educators in Montgomery County, Md., have devised a film for 10th-graders that features a young lady putting a condom on a cucumber. You do wonder, when you read about these things, why they stop there.
After all, if the assumption is that kids are too stupid to know how to unroll a condom unless it is demonstrated for them, then why would they be smart enough to know that it goes on a penis and not on the contents of the vegetable bin in the refrigerator?
ISN SECURITY WATCH (05/06/05) - The head of Brazil?s anti-AIDS program, Pedro Chequer, sent a letter to the US government last week declining an offer of US$40 million in AIDS assistance, because the aid was conditional on condemning prostitution.
Prostitution is legal in Brazil and the Brazilian Health Ministry said the clause condemning prostitution had not been part of the original agreement on AIDS assistance, but was added later by the administration of US President George Bush.
Government-funded researchers tested anti-HIV drugs on hundreds of foster children over the past two decades, often without providing them a basic protection afforded in federal law and required by some states, an Associated Press review has found. The research, funded by the National Institutes of Health, spanned the country. It was most widespread in the 1990s as foster care agencies sought treatments for their HIV-infected children that weren't yet available in the marketplace. The practice ensured that foster children--mostly poor or minority--received care from world-class researchers at government expense, slowing their rate of death and extending their lives. But it also exposed a vulnerable population to the risks of medical research and drugs that were known to have serious side effects in adults and for which the safety for children was unknown.
When Scott Kellerman, recently appointed by New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg as Assistant Commissioner for the Bureau of HIV/AIDS Services (NYC Dept. of Health and Mental Hygiene) said recently in the New York Post, "We need to cover this city in latex" ... it was no surprise that Ansell Healthcare was able and willing to meet the challenge.
Building off an almost 30 year history in the Public Health Sector to help promote safer sex, Ansell Healthcare was well positioned to assist Scott Kellerman and the city of New York in their renewed efforts to educate the citizens on the importance of protection against sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS.
TRENTON, N.J. - Condoms do a great job of stopping the spread of AIDS and a pretty good job of preventing pregnancy. But the evidence they protect against other sexually transmitted diseases is surprisingly spotty.
Republican Sen. Tom Coburn and groups promoting abstinence are pushing to make condom labels "medically accurate," even blocking appointment of a new federal drug agency chief until the labels are changed. "Safe sex" advocates fear that could undermine public confidence, decreasing their use.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. Health advocates say condoms should be given to Tennessee prison inmates to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.
But state officials argue they don't see a problem justifying such a need and that the move would actually promote sexual activity.
It is difficult to understand how the Louisiana House of Representatives would eliminate, without discussion or debate, the state's cheapest activity to prevent a terminal and tragic but preventable disease.
But that's what happened when lawmakers adopted an amendment to the state budget offered by Rep. Gary Beard, R-Baton Rouge. It forbids the Office of Public Health from using federal dollars to buy and distribute condoms.
Two television networks broke new ground in broadcasting history last night when they aired condom ads.
The WB network aired the first 30-second Trojan commercial during "Smallville." NBC followed suit an hour later with a Trojan spot in its 10 p.m. hour.
A Chinese company is honoring ex-president Bill Clinton by naming a new line of condoms after him -- along with a companion line of condoms that will be named after his ex-girl-toy, Monica Lewinsky.
According to the NewsMax Internet site, Britain's Sky News reported last week that the Guangzhou Haokian Bio-science company has registered their names as trademarks for the contraceptives.
Maine is right to reject federal funding that requires the state to focus solely on abstinence-only programs rather than offering comprehensive sex education, including abstinence. There is no evidence that programs that tell children to wait until marriage to have sex actually work. Worse, there is evidence that teenagers who participate in the abstinence-only programs are engaging in risky sexual behavior, increasing their chances of contracting diseases or becoming pregnant.
The Food and Drug Administration is halting all imports of Ansell-brand condoms made at the company's Thailand manufacturing plant after two lots of condoms failed to meet FDA safety standards.
FDA on Friday barred the import of condoms made in Ansell's Surat Thani facility in Thailand after the product failed to meet the agency's safety standards, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. FDA placed Ansell's condoms on Level 2 restrictions -- meaning the condoms will have to pass agency tests in at least 10 successive shipments before the restriction is removed -- after an undisclosed failure during the testing of two shipments.
Ansell was barred from exporting condoms from its Thailand plant to the United States on Friday after the products failed to meet rigorous safety standards during a random inspection.
The company subjects its condoms to internal water and electronic tests to ensure their quality, but the US Food & Drug Administration's even stricter examination revealed flaws.
TUESDAY Sept. 6 (HealthDay News) -- Most sexually active male American teens say they have no intention of getting a girl pregnant, but more than half also believe it is likely that they will do so within the next six months, a new study finds.
This fatalistic attitude "highlights the need to have a larger conversation about pregnancy, condom use, and what the barriers to condom use might be among male adolescents," said lead researcher Cynthia Rosengard, an assistant professor of medicine at Brown University School of Medicine in Providence, R.I. "We need to help them, so that their actions fall more in line with their plans."
Celebrities are notorious for demanding perks backstage -- and Sunday night's MTV Video Music Awards in Miami were no exception.
Rapper 50 Cent's reps asked for two boxes of condoms, reports the New York Daily News, as well as the obligatory bottles of Cristal. When it came to food, however, his tastes were simpler: chicken from KFC and Boston Market, and mac and cheese.
A university administrator said he will ask the vending company servicing the dormitory vending machines at University of New Hampshire to bring back condoms, according to Foster?s Daily Democrat in Dover, N.H.
Activist Hollywood actors have lent their names and voices to "safe sex" messages, but when it comes to movies, recent studies show the message is distinctly lacking. This information is noteworthy of itself and also because Hollywood has come under attack in the past for its use of cigarettes in movies - equally unexpected given Hollywood's politically correct culture and pronouncements.
DURHAM, N.H. --Dormitory vending machines at University of New Hampshire once dispensed condoms, and a university administrator says he'll ask the vending company to put them back.
Until two or three years ago, the prophylactics were available alongside snacks in the machines.
WASHINGTON - U.S. teen pregnancy and birth rates have plummeted to recorded lows as more teenagers delay sex, abstain from it, use contraception and use it more effectively. Abortions also are down.
The decline, to the lowest teen birth rates since national tallies began in 1940, is a remarkable personal health reform, sharper than U.S. declines in smoking or increases in seat-belt use.
BOGOTA, Colombia - A western Colombian city councilman wants to require everyone in town 14 or older to carry a condom to prevent pregnancy and disease, outraging local priests.
William Pena, a councilman in Tulua, said Wednesday he will present a formal proposal to force all men and women - even those just visiting - to always carry at least one condom. Those caught empty-pocketed could pay a fine of $180 or take a safe sex course, he said.
Condoms do protect against the spread of the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). This has been demonstrated in a number of studies. According to the Centers for Disease Control, laboratory studies have shown that HPV cannot pass through latex barriers like condoms. Condoms protect against cervical HPV infection, the type of HPV infection that can sometimes lead to cervical cancer.
She was a freshman on an academic scholarship at Bryn Mawr College, preparing to fly home to California for Christmas, sleep-deprived, with questions from a calculus exam still racing through her head.
In the space of a few hours on Dec. 21, 2003, Janet Lee landed in a Philadelphia jail cell, where she would remain for three weeks, held on $500,000 bail and facing 20 years in prison on drug charges.
(KUTV)BOSTON - A former strip club waitress was arrested by the FBI after she allegedly mailed explosive condoms to random businesses, claiming that she was tired of being mistreated by men.
According to FBI documents unsealed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Boston, Kimberly Lynn Dasilva, 40, said she "couldn't take it anymore."
A survey by Condom Hall found that 42 percent of men surveyed failed to leave space at the end of the condom for semen.
The condom vender?s study, conducted in January 2006, surveyed 858 heterosexual males at 18 large universities nationwide.
Health officials make condoms, morning-after pill 'teen friendly'
Teenage New Yorkers will get better access to contraceptives - including the controversial morning-after pill - under a new pilot program launched yesterday in the Bronx.
The "Healthy Teens Initiative," which will eventually be expanded citywide, seeks to reduce teen pregnancies and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases by making reproductive health services more "teen friendly," according to city Health Department officials.
In the past 15 years, New York City public schools have distributed thousands of condoms to high school students, and with them lessons about the importance of safe sex.
Still, a city health department study three years ago found teens weren't necessarily listening. One in four students who said they were sexually active reported they hadn't used a condom the last time they had sex. And nearly 20 percent of the sexually active teens said they had had at least four partners.
More Massachusetts teenagers who are sexually active are using condoms, according to a state survey released yesterday, 11 years after a landmark court ruling said schools could make them available to students.
The state survey, given to 3,500 teenagers in 51 high schools last year, shows that condom use has increased steadily since the Supreme Judicial Court ruled that schools could hand out condoms without parental consent.
Condoms can reduce your risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases, but just how effective are they? On ?Today?s Woman,? we take a look at condoms. Dr. Judith Reichman, a ?Today? contributor and gynecologist, was invited on the show to share the latest information on STDs and tips on how to prevent getting one.
A U.S. study shows the use of a condom while having sex can reduce a woman's risk of acquiring the virus that causes cervical cancer by up to 70 percent.
A vaccine, Gardasil, that provides nearly 100 percent protection against cervical cancer has been approved in the United States but scientists say people will still need to use condoms since the vaccine only protects against some strains of human papillomavirus that cause cervical cancer, newscientist.com reported Tuesday.
A U.S. study shows the use of a condom while having sex can reduce a woman's risk of acquiring the virus that causes cervical cancer by up to 70 percent.
A vaccine, Gardasil, that provides nearly 100 percent protection against cervical cancer has been approved in the United States but scientists say people will still need to use condoms since the vaccine only protects against some strains of human papillomavirus that cause cervical cancer, newscientist.com reported Tuesday.
VAT on condoms and other contraceptive products is to be reduced from 17.5% to 5% from tomorrow.
Retail chemists plan to reduce the price of a packet of three condoms by around 30p and - pending reductions in the prices charged at vending machines - the vendors will increase their supply of free condoms to sexual health charities and other bodies.
Many teens put condoms on after starting sex or take them off before it's over -- thus risking sexually transmitted diseases.
The finding comes from a survey of 1,373 British teens by Bethan Hatherallof London's National Children's Bureau, and colleagues.
Many college students may be left ill-informed about safer sex and more at risk for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unintended pregnancies because of a lack of access to information about sexual health and availability of condoms at some schools, according to the Trojan Sexual Health Report Card
A survey of more than 1,000 men in India has concluded that condoms made according to international sizes are too large for a majority of Indian men.
The study found that more than half of the men measured had penises that were shorter than international standards for condoms.
Two UK surveys, 10 years apart, indicate that there's been a substantial increase in the rate of condom use, particularly among young people. However, condom use is inconsistent among people who report high rates of new sexual partners.
This may be a factor in the recent resurgence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), Dr. Jackie Cassell from the University of Brighton and colleagues at University College London surmise.
CONDOMS can significantly reduce the risk of women being exposed to the virus linked to cervical cancer, a leading charity said today.
Tenovus, the Welsh cancer charity, said that condom use during sex can reduce the risk of exposure to the human papilloma virus (HPV) by as much as 70%.
Officials at Iowa's Des Moines Area Community College weren't taking any chances. Several classroom were evacuated last week and the bomb squad was called, when school officials got concerned about a package delivered to campus.
In June, the Centers for Disease Control reported a new national all-time high: One million people in the United States are now HIV positive, and half of those are black.
Before the black community could recover from that startling blow, the CDC also reported that a new five-city study found 46% of all black men who sleep with men are HIV positive.
New federal rules designed to get people off the Medicaid rolls and give senior citizens Medicare prescription drug coverage are causing confusion and may make getting medications more difficult for HIV-positive people.
The new rules, known as Medicare Part D, go into effect January 1. People who need the coverage, and their case managers, are scrambling to choose from HMO-like plans before then. Anyone not enrolled in a program by January 1 will be automatically enrolled in one by Medicare, whether or not that program is right for them.
AUSTIN - Former U.S. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders on Monday said condoms are more likely to protect teens against sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy than vows of abstinence.
"Many of our children don't use condoms because we don't teach them about condoms," she said. "Our government tells them that condoms will break. I always say, the vows of abstinence break far more easily than latex condoms."
Various speakers and panellists, including Nelson Mandela's wife Graca Machel, who addressed delegates at the 2008 International Public Television (Input) Conference in Johannesburg, have launched a persuasive call to the media worldwide to play a critical role in combating HIV/Aids, which continues to wipe entire communities. "It is clear that with the digital developments the media can help spread a powerful message out there to make a difference," Dali Mpofu, SABC CEO and chairperson of Global Media Aids Initiative (GMAI), said.
A Leger Marketing survey on the sexual attitudes of Canada's young women suggests our current approach to sex education isn't working.
Comprehensive, no-holds barred sex education programs were supposed to produce women who are knowledgeable, confident and capable of making smart sexual decisions.
Forty thousand Nevadans soon will receive word that they might have been exposed to HIV and hepatitis strains B and C in what a federal health official called the largest notification of its kind in U.S. history.
Patients who visited the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada at 700 Shadow Lane between March 2004 and Jan. 11 are being urged to get tested for the diseases as soon as possible.
Stereotypes and misinformation about HIV that are commonplace among the general public are also evident in a surprising number of clinical staff, a study from the University at Buffalo has found. Published in the journal AIDS Patient Care and STDs, Lance S. Rintamaki's study shows that more than 25 years after its discovery, HIV still has the power to generate a broad array of stigmatizing behavior. People infected with HIV have previously labeled dealing with stigma as the most significant social and psychological challenge of the HIV experience and Rintamaki's study shows little has changed.
It's possible to stimulate the thymus gland to produce new immune system T-cells in adults infected with HIV, U.S. researchers say.
HIV infection destroys T-cells, which leads to the collapse of the immune system and severe infection. The thymus gland produces T-cells early in life but gradually loses function and becomes mostly inactive in adulthood. That means it's difficult for HIV-infected adults to produce new T-cells to rebuild their depleted immune systems.
Approximately one-fifth of HIV-positive patients report never using condoms with regular or casual partners in a study conducted in New York and published in the February edition of AIDS Patient Care and STDs. Inconsistent use of condoms was associated with the presence of symptoms of depression, and most of the patients reporting unprotected sex had a detectable viral load.
1 Cancer connection: There are more than 100 types of Human papillomaviruses or HPV, the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States. Most are harmless, but about 30 types put you at risk for cancer. Almost all women will have HPV infections at some point, but very few will develop cervical cancer; their immune systems will usually suppress or eliminate HPVs, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Only HPV infections that do not go away over many years lead to cervical cancer.
A Web site that enables people with sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) to send anonymous email warnings to their partners could help slow a rise in new infections, a New York health official said.
InSpot.org uses the E-Card model to send messages like "I'm So Sorry" to notify people that they may have been exposed to a disease. It also offers information about getting tested and treatment.
Since administrators decided against installing condom machines in University of South Carolina residence halls, students will have to go a little further for safety when they want to go all the way.
The Residence Hall Association, representing student residents, took an opinion poll that found most USC students wanted condom machines installed in dorms. Student residents and the RHA alike said the administration's decision was a disappointment.
Ah, the swinging 60s and 70s. Those were the days. Sex was an egocentric activity engaged in, solely and indiscriminately, for pleasure.
"Spreading the love" was a humanitarian activity, not a euphemism within the medical community for the increased distribution of STDs among the population. This was all, of course, before the official discovery of AIDS by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on June 5, 1981.
Valentine's Day is fast approaching and among the chocolates and the flowers and the paper hearts, all inscribed with endearing words, there will also undoubtedly be a lot more "love making" happening than usual. Given this fact, National Condom Awareness Week, which has been recognized by the American Social Health Association, occurs annually around Valentine's Day. This year it is being held on Feb. 10 to Feb. 17 and intends to promote the use of condoms as a preventative against unwanted pregnancy as well as some sexually transmitted diseases.
Syphilis is making a comeback in developed countries, spurred by illicit drug use and high-risk sexual behaviors, and many doctors are unprepared to recognize and treat it, U.S. researchers said on Monday.
They said syphilis has been on the rise since the beginning of the 21st century in high-income countries, but because the disease had been well controlled in the 1990s, doctors may not be screening for it.
The FDA issued an emergency alert today warning consumers of drugs being sold on the Internet falsely claiming that they can prevent or treat sexually transmitted diseases. The products are sold under the names of Tetrasil, Genisil, Aviralex, OXi-MED, Imulux, Beta-mannan, Micronutrient, Qina, and SlicPlus and make claims such as:
The United Nations estimates that 2.5 million children are infected with HIV / AIDS, with nearly 90 percent of them in sub-Saharan Africa. Activists in the fight against the disease say one of the best ways to prevent mother-to-child transmission of the HIV virus is to prevent unintended births. From Washington, reporter William Eagle has the story.
In recent years, anti-retroviral AIDS drugs have been in the forefront of the fight to prevent the spread of the disease from a mother to her baby.
LOS ANGELES - County health officials sent letters to producers and directors in the porn industry, urging them to use condoms during sex scenes as part of a stepped-up effort to prevent a repeat of April's HIV outbreak. The letters, which began arriving this week, come as state lawmakers have threatened possible legislation to mandate the use of condoms in porn productions.
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CNSNews.com) - In a Dec. 1 op-ed in the Washington Post, First Lady Laura Bush said Americans need to "practice safe sex," use condoms "every time," and get tested for HIV/AIDS. Her spokeswoman repeated the message to Cybercast News Service this week. However, it is a message that is contrary to the Bush administration's policy position on abstinence education as the best way to fight HIV/AIDS.
In orchestrating his quickly growing business, Bravo Condoms, Zac Mazzotta figured out early that he is not just selling a product. He is selling a name. He is selling packaging. And perhaps most importantly, he is selling an image. In an industry that has traditionally focused on more general themes ? safety and comfort ? in its marketing, Mazzotta, a Stevenson School graduate and part-time Carmel Valley resident, is billing his product as the condom of youth culture, infiltrating the adventure sport and rock music crowds with an aggressive advertising campaign.
Tampa, FL - CondomDepot.com has announced the long awaited winners of its 7th Annual World's Best Condom Awards. Throughout the year, Condom Depot's condom testers, which consisted of college students, swingers, and 25 couples of various ages, sampled Condom Depot's forty best condoms. The forty condoms they received where decided by combining our top Selling Condoms with the ratings we receive from our customers via online reviews. Each of the forty condoms was tested and graded based on certain criteria such as comfort, quality, and reliability. After tallying the results from the condom testers, and then reviewing customer feedback results, Condom Depot narrowed down to the top ten winners of the World?s Best Condom Awards.
June 4 (Bloomberg) -- Teenagers are having more sex than they were in 2001 and condom use declined after the U.S. government increased spending to promote sexual abstinence. The percentage of teens who said they had sex rose to 47.8 percent last year from 45.6 percent in 2001, according to data released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Condom use fell from 63 percent in 2003 to 61.5 percent in 2007, the survey of high school students found.
In a study released this week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports record declines in the rates of teen pregnancies and abortions. The drop in teenage pregnancy rates continues a long trend: the decline of 38 percent is a fall from an all-time high in 1990 to an historic low in 2004. Significantly, the CDC, the nation's largest public health agency, stated that their report is the most comprehensive study of this decade.
The U.S. government must provide more funding for the worldwide distribution of female condoms while reducing the amount of money it spends on abstinence-until-marriage programs, according to Serra Sippel, executive director of the Center for Health and Gender Equity, or CHANGE.
Representatives from Trojan Condoms addressed both the sexually active and abstinent UT community on Thursday as part of its nationwide college tour. "We are trying to get people to evolve past piggish behavior to being aware of the need for sexual safety," said Kari Kuka, spokeswoman and sexual health educator for the tour.
SCHOOLS have been criticised for encouraging underage sex by giving pupils free condoms. Teenagers at secondary schools in Edinburgh and West Lothian have received the contraceptives, in a bid to curb unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.
Maria was offended when her daughter started to lecture her about safe sex. At age 78, she had been a widow for 11 years, and her relationship with Edward was filling an important need in her life. "We are not going to get married," she told her daughter, "because that would complicate matters with our property and our children. And I'm too old to get pregnant. So what is it that you're so worried about?"
Federal regulators urged steps to prevent a trickle of leaky condoms being shipped to the U.S. from becoming a flood.
Already caught up in an FBI investigation of a scheme to sell stolen infant formula, a New Berlin grocery wholesaler is also in the middle of a complex lawsuit involving the sale and distribution of millions of counterfeit condoms. Kaloti Enterprises has steadfastly denied dealing in stolen infant formula. But it admits buying and selling a shipment of counterfeit Trojan condoms as well as a load of fake Duracell batteries.
Your method of birth control can actually do more than just protect against pregnancy. It may also affect things such as your appearance and your risk of certain kinds of cancer.
The two-decade search for an AIDS vaccine is in crisis after two field tests of the most promising contender not only did not protect people from the virus but may actually have put them at increased risk of becoming infected. The results of the trials, which enrolled volunteers on four continents, have spurred intense scientific inquiry and unprecedented soul-searching as researchers try to make sense of what happened and assess whether they should have seen it coming.
Yesterday, the day after veteran performer Darren James was confirmed as HIV-positive, the adult industry was attempting to ascertain how far the virus may have spread, knowing that certain knowledge that it the virus hasn?t spread won?t come until June.
The partial shutdown of the adult video industry following revelations that two of its stars tested positive for HIV is only one of several problems facing the industry, according to one of its loudest critics.
Adult movie producers agreed to shut down sets for weeks Thursday after two performers tested positive for the virus that causes AIDS. At least 45 men and women were under voluntary quarantine because they had sex with the HIV-positive performers or their sex partners, said Sharon Mitchell of the nonprofit Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation.
By Gary Fennelly, belfasttelegraph.co.uk A German inventor has admitted that spray-on condoms may never hit the shelves after his team were unable to overcome technical problems. Jan Vinzenz Krause of the German Institute for Condom Consultancy made headlines across the world when he announced his pioneering design in 2006. Krause promised the spray-on condom would offer a better, safer fit for men of all sizes.
A new study indicates that the safe sex message is getting through to Australian women, with nearly 70 per cent of those surveyed currently using contraception and 15 per cent using not one but two contraceptive methods to prevent pregnancy and protect themselves from sexually transmitted diseases.
At the 2008 National STD Prevention Conference held in Chicago in early March, Dr. Sara Forhan released an alarming set of data referring to a study of Sexually Transmitted Diseases in female teenagers. Forhan studied 838 participants in the 2003-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination survey, all of whom were female teenagers between the ages of 14 and 19. The study showed that approximately one in four teens had one of the four most common STDs found in women-HPV (Human papillomavirus,) Chlamydia, HSV-2 (Herpes simplex virus type 2), or Trichomoniasis.
A committee in Brazil's lower house of Congress voted down a bill on Wednesday that would have legalized abortion in the world's most populous Roman Catholic nation. The Justice and Constitution Committee in the Chamber of Deputies voted 57-4 against a bill that had been stuck in Congress for 17 years, steeped in controversy. It is now likely to be shelved.
Pressing the Senate to rubberstamp $50 billion in global spending on AIDS, malaria and TB, AIDS activists marched on the White House last week bearing signs with slogans like "Now or Never." But this week, a Anglican priest from Uganda opened more serious dialogue about the bill, saying that "condom promotions have failed in Africa" and AIDS "profiteers" have subverted African fidelity and abstinence programs in order to sell commodities for a profit.
A new study shows more and more New Yorkers are putting themselves at risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases because fewer people are using condoms. Public service announcements have been a part of the New York City health department's campaign to get more people to use condoms. Although the department has distributed some 48 million condoms since last year, officials say not enough New Yorkers are heeding the warnings.
For today's seniors, it's never too late for sex education. Like any sex education seminar, this one covered the familiar topics: how to use a condom, how to protect against sexually transmitted disease. But some of the questions - How will Viagra affect my heart medication? Where does an 82-year-old man meet women?
Today's teens and 20-somethings grew up with safer-sex slogans and celebrity-endorsed condom campaigns. They learned from parents, teachers, government and the media, the grim realities of HIV, AIDS and sexually transmitted infections. Their after-school TV specials dispensed the "no glove, no love" moral, and hip anti-STI messages still reach them on-the-go via cellphone or the Internet.
More than one in four teenage girls is infected with common sexually transmitted diseases, federal researchers reported Tuesday in a new study that for the first time quantifies a persistent problem. Young women and girls ages 14 to 19 in "alarming" numbers are contracting human papilloma virus, chlamydia, genital herpes and trichomoniasis.
A group working to develop a gel or cream women could use to protect themselves against the AIDS virus said on Tuesday they have permission to use an experimental new drug from Merck and Co. It is the sixth HIV drug to be tested by the International Partnership for Microbicides, said the group's chief executive officer, Dr. Zeda Rosenberg.
I am so suprised that nobody is talking or having any comments about VCF which I used all the time. My partner and I are totally confident in that product. Could you touch a word on it? -Manuel, St Paul, MN
IN a commercial for Trojan condoms that has its premiere tonight, women in a bar are surrounded by anthropomorphized, cellphone-toting pigs. One shuffles to the men's room, where, after procuring a condom from a vending machine, he is transformed into a head-turner in his 20s. When he returns to the bar, a fetching blond who had been indifferent now smiles at him invitingly.
Indiana University is partnering with the makers of Trojan condoms to conduct research in hopes of improving people's sexual health. For the next three years, IU's Center for Sexual Health Promotion will work on projects for Church & Dwight, a Princeton, N.J.-based sexual health products company.
Anthony Atkins, MD, a family physician working in the poverty-stricken neighborhoods of Lima, Ohio, wanted a way to reach the young African-American males who came to his office with bullet wounds and the 13-year-old girls arriving for prenatal care. He also wanted to find a way to reduce the number of adolescents he saw who had not just one sexually transmitted disease, but multiple types simultaneously.
New numbers suggest the message about the importance of safe sex may not be getting through to students. University of British Columbia health officials have observed a disturbing increase in sexually transmitted infections.
TORONTO -- While the average age for losing virginity was 16 1/2 for both sexes, 12 per cent of boys and 13 per cent of girls surveyed have had sexual relations by the age of 14 or 15, Statistics Canada said yesterday. And despite a decades-old education push, many young people still shy away from using condoms. Just under four in 10 sexually-active 15- to 24-year-olds didn't use a condom the last time they had sex, a study suggests.
Teens are slightly more likely to use condoms when they have sex with a casual partner, compared to a partner they are more serious about, a new study finds. "Unfortunately, this reveals that teens may overestimate the safety of using condoms most of the time with a casual partner and underestimate the risk of unprotected sex with a serious partner," study lead author Celia Lescano, of the Bradley Hasbro Children's Hospital Research Center and Brown Medical School, in Providence, R.I., said in a prepared statement.
The safe sex message has been drummed into us for years, but not everyone is getting it. More and more Kiwis are being diagnosed with sexually transmitted infections, Rebecca Palmer writes. Beethoven, van Gogh, Oscar Wilde and Guy de Maupassant had more than great art in common ? they are among famous men thought to have suffered from the dreaded disease syphilis.
It's the one thing hotter than the weather these days - sultry summer sex. You can all but fan yourself (among other things) thinking about it. But what is it about the summer season that makes us so much more aroused?
Young travelers and sex tourists are returning from exotic locations with more than just tans and souvenirs. For some, infections such as syphilis and HIV are lingering reminders of a romance overseas. "A large proportion of people are having sexual intercourse with new partners when they go abroad...and are putting themselves at risk of sexually transmitted infections (STIs)," said Dr Karen Rogstad of the Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield, England.
Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the cause of genital warts, and some subtypes of the virus can cause cancer. Now, researchers report that circumcision and regular condom use seem to reduce the risk of penile HPV infection.
As students make the decision to become sexually active, they should bear in mind the possible physical consequences -- namely sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and pregnancy.
Think no-underwear zone, Sarah Beth Basinger urges the Hamilton Southeastern High School freshmen, as some shift uncomfortably in their seats. "It's not because I want to be mean. It's not because I want to be awful. It's not because I want to destroy your life," says Basinger, a teacher with Creating Positive Relationships, an abstinence-only sex-education curriculum used there, and by some other schools in Indiana and around the world.
Though many sexually active people buy condoms and pride themselves on being safe, the actual act of buying condoms hardly becomes less awkward over time.
When DMC Pharmacy opens this summer on Route 50 in Chantilly, the shelves will be stocked with allergy remedies, pain relievers, antiseptic ointments and almost everything else sold in any drugstore.
The role of sexual health services Rising levels of sexually transmitted infections (STI) have led many local education authorities to recognize the need for comprehensive sexual and relationship education. Meanwhile, many hard-to-reach young people are being contacted through pupil referral centres, youth offending teams and leaving care teams.
Two fed-up medical officials have quit Gloucester High School's health center amid a teen pregnancy "crisis" in a fight over handing out condoms and birth-control pills. Medical Director Dr. Brian Orr and chief nurse practitioner Kim Daly resigned in outrage after their recommendation to confidentially give contraceptives to students was rejected by Addison Gilbert Hospital, which administers state funding for the school clinic.
Though they didn't look like much, the white specks squirming under a microscope in researcher Debra Wolgemuth's lab could have a big impact in the high stakes world of controlling fertility, not for women but for men.
While they know it may stir up some controversy, representatives from AIDS awareness group Bethany Place plans to pass out more than 6,000 condoms at metro-east colleges next week but not at Southwestern Illinois College. The giveaway is part of the observance of National Condom Week, according to Katie Barnhart, the Bethany Place community prevention and education coordinator. She said the message is too important not to get out.
With Valentine's Day rapidly approaching, couples worldwide are scrambling in order to make the day as romantic and memorable as possible.
Between the methodical plans for candlelight dinners, bouquets of flowers and boxes of chocolates, there are two unwanted gifts distributed regularly that a significant other wants no part of.
Condoms and home pregnancy test kits sold in retail stores nationwide are being recalled by their distributor, Harmony Brands, because they may not work correctly.
The Bush administration's enlightenment on AIDS treatment has not, alas, been matched in AIDS prevention programs. Spurred by the religious right, the administration and Congress have fenced off one-third of the nation's international AIDS prevention funds to be used for abstinence programs starting in 2006, even though such programs alone are insufficient.
In 1951, Katherine McCormick and Margaret Sanger set in motion the ideas and funding that would revolutionize women's sexual and reproductive health for generations. Their groundbreaking work paved the way for today's standard oral contraceptives, known collectively as "the pill."
Last month, researchers in Atlanta launched a clinical trial to determine if the drug tenofovir, already in wide use to treat HIV/AIDS, also can be taken by uninfected people to protect them from HIV. This is the strategy we use with malaria and other diseases: We take preventative medications before we encounter pathogens, so our body can repel infection.
They reduce chances of pregnancy over a year's time to 3% with perfect use and 14% with typical use, compared with 85% with no birth control. (Perfect use means they're used every time and put on before any skin-to-skin contact.) ?With perfect use, chances of HIV infection are reduced about 80%.
HOLYOKE MASS. - The School Committee approved a policy to distribute condoms to students in the sixth through 12th grades, but only after debating if it should exclude students in expanding elementary schools.
By Steven Renberg
HealthDay Reporter Washington Post
Tuesday, November 11, 2008; 12:00 AM
TUESDAY, Nov. 11 (HealthDay News) -- Six out of every 10 middle-aged Britons do not use a condom during a first-time sexual encounter, a new study shows. Those numbers might be similar for Americans, one expert said. "Data in the U.S. are likely comparable and, given prevailing policies with regard to contraception, may be worse," said Dr. David L. Katz, director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn.
