Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) Reference Summary

Sexually transmitted diseases, or STDs, are some of the most common infectious diseases in the United States.

There are more than 20 STDs, the most deadly being the HIV virus. Other sexually transmitted diseases include syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia.

This reference summary reviews some common STDs and how they can be diagnosed, treated, and prevented.

Causes of STDs

An infectious disease is a disease that can be passed from one person to another. Sexually transmitted diseases are a category of diseases that are spread via sexual activities, such as vaginal intercourse, oral sex, or anal sex.

Condoms - How to Use Them? Condom Tips and FAQ

Keep condoms handy. Have some near where you usually have sex. Store them in a cool place where heat won’t damage them. Avoid exposure to extreme low or high temperatures, moisture, direct sunlight and fluorescent light. If the condom is sticky or brittle or looks damaged, do not use it.

Check the date. Condom packages have an expiration date printed on them. Check the date before you unwrap the condom.

Lubrication. If you want extra lubrication to reduce friction during sex, you can spread a water-based lubricant such as K-Y jelly or Astroglide on the condom once it is on the penis.

No oil-based lubricants! Vaseline, lotions, mineral oil, vegetable oil, or cold cream can damage the latex and cause the condom to break. Never use an oil-based product for lubrication with a condom.

Experiment. All condoms are not created equal. Different styles work better for different people.Try several kinds to find a type or brand you like. Be sure to choose a condom that protects against STDs! For example, lambskin condoms only protect against pregnancy; they do not protect against STDs. This information will be printed on the package.

New Proteins That Help HIV Grow Identified

Harvard researchers have identified almost 300 human proteins that help HIV propagate, creating hope for new treatments to combat the virus that causes AIDS.

Using a technique called RNA interference to screen thousands of genes, the team identified 273 human proteins, according to the study published online Jan. 10 in Science Express. These proteins could provide a way to help people with HIV when the virus develops resistance to current antiviral drugs.

"Antiviral drugs are currently doing a good job of keeping people alive, but these therapeutics all suffer from the same problem, which is that you can get resistance, so we decided to take a different approach centered on the human proteins exploited by the virus. The virus would not be able to mutate to overcome drugs that interact with these proteins," senior author Stephen Elledge, a professor in Harvard Medical School's department of genetics, said in a prepared statement.

Internet-Based Health Promotion and Disease Control in the 8 Cities: Successes, Barriers, and Future Plans

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Gay Health Beyond HIV Prevention and the PEC Deck

Looking for a hot, healthy, well-adjusted man?

Whether it be in the bars, baths, on-line chat rooms or personal ads, today more than ever before, gay men are portraying themselves as near-perfect specimens of manliness.

So, are gay men suddenly healthier than ever, or is health, like beauty, in the eye of the beholder?

Consider the following personal ads:

GWM 32, VGL, 6ft, 180 lbs, muscular, blo/blu, social drinker, n/s, enjoys dancing, healthy. Seeks other guys for hot times.

25, 5'10", 145, bl/br, lean, healthy, seeking dominant top for discreet encounters. NS, ND.

30s top guy. Rugby player build. Healthy, clean, discrete. Want HIV neg. bottoms for bb sex.

Healthy 47 yo Asian male looking for a kind, down to earth man for friendship with potential for more. Enjoy the outdoors, eating out, theater, and quiet nights at home. Serious replies only.

Four gay men looking for sex, love and fun. All claim to be "healthy," but just what does healthy mean, and whose definition of "health" are they using?

The Battles over Sexual Education: History, Politics, and Practice

Sex education has always been a controversial aspect of education and has endured numerous changes due to the dispute surrounding it. Since the beginning of the 20th century, debates over sex education have been prominent in schools throughout the country. Already by 1919 there was a call for education about "the moral, the normal, the healthful, the helpful, and the esthetic aspects" and a move away from teaching solely about disease prevention. In 1964, as sex was becoming more visible to youth via a more overt media targeted at teens in particular, the private organization SIECUS (Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States) was created to challenge inadequate sex education. With the creation of SIECUS, opponents no longer remained quiet because there was now a clear target to attack. Right Wing groups lashed out at comprehensive sex education programs. Thus, the sex education battle was born and has remained vigorous to this day.

There have been several policy changes in recent history that have affected sex education throughout the country and there is far from a cohesive stance about whether these policies were the correct ones to implement and whether or not they have been successful While the policies that have had the greatest effect on sex education were put into place beginning in the 1980s, the ferocious sex education battle really began in the 60's. There were many social and cultural changes from the 1960s-1980s that caused such policies to be executed. These policies and practices reflect a very conservative government that views sex education as a way to promote traditional ideas about sex. Thus, this paper will partly focus on these policy changes and what promoted their conception. What social and cultural shifts from the 1960s to now caused policy changes in sex education in the United States? There is another part to this question that needs to be addressed. While an overwhelming majority of schools require abstinence-only education, is this necessarily the type of education parents want their children to receive? To what extent do current sex education programs and policies indicate parents desires for their children's education and to what extent do they reflect political controversy? To explore this question further, I will shift the concentration to one state, Connecticut, and examine how national social and cultural shifts are reflected in Connecticut's policies. What federal funding is Connecticut receiving and what does this reveal about Connecticut's sex ed programs in relation to the rest of the country?

Pepsi makes the right choice on HIV/AIDS

Beverages major, Pepsico, has joined hands with NGOs Bhoruka Public Welfare Trust and Durbar in Kolkata to spread awareness on AIDS/HIV and popularise the use of condoms among local people.

According to Sanjiv Saxena, director-east of PepsiCo, "Pepsi's biggest consumers are people between 18 and 35 years of age. This age group is also most vulnerable to diseases like AIDS. So we thought of reaching out to the masses with the help of local NGOs in creating AIDS awareness as part of our corporate social responsibility."

Since 2005, Pepsi has been engaged in training its own employees, factory workers and the truck-drivers who carry Pepsi's stocks, in AIDS awareness programmes and condom usage.

Pepsi has reached out to over 1000 truckers and employees in Kolkata with its AIDS awareness programmes. "So far, our activities were restricted to our eastern India factory at Sonarpur. But now we plan to reach out to more local people in Kolkata," Saxena said.

According to BPWT project manager Ishita Majumdar, corporate partnerships like the one with Pepsico will ease the NGO's work as Pepsi already enjoys a high brand recall .

"We will have to make less efforts to make people listen to us if a big name like Pepsi is associated with the activity," feels Majumdar.

Women With AIDS Face Cervical Cancer Threat

According to a recent report by UNAIDS, access to antiretroviral therapy is beginning to reduce AIDS mortality worldwide. But Dr. Groesbeck Parham, gynecologic oncologist and Director of the Cervical Cancer Prevention Program at the Center for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia (CIDRZ) warns that women being treated for AIDS could end up dying of cervical cancer unless they have access to screening and treatment.

"We are saving women's lives by treating them with antiretroviral therapy, but we could lose a high percentage of them to cervical cancer," said Parham.

Parham and his team have tested more than 10,000 Zambian women in the largest cervical cancer screening program targeting HIV-infected women in the developing world. In a study published last year in the journal Gynecologic Oncology, he reported that 90 percent of HIV-infected women presenting for antiretroviral therapy also harbor cervical cell abnormalities, conditions that left untreated can develop into cervical cancer.

"Before having access to antiretroviral medications, women living in developing nations who had AIDS typically succumbed to it before they could develop cervical cancer," said Parham.

Currently, 80 percent of new cases of cervical cancer and 80 percent of the annual deaths occur in women who live in developing countries. Few women in poor countries have access to cervical cancer screening or treatment.

"As funds are allocated for HIV/AIDS care and treatment, we need to make sure that women's other health issues are not swept under the carpet," said Dr. Mulindi Mwanahamuntu, Co-Director of the CIDRZ Cervical Cancer Prevention Program.

In sub-Saharan Africa, cervical cancer is the most common female cancer and the most common cause of cancer-related death. When cervical lesions are discovered in pre-cancer stage the cure rates are high.

In the CIDRZ program, women are examined by nurses trained in a low-tech, low-cost screening protocol that allows them to identify precancerous or suspected cancer within minutes instead of waiting for results from a pap test. The women can then be treated immediately.

ScienceDaily

Alcoholism & Conduct Disorder Contribute To Having A High Number Of Sex Partners

Previous studies have linked heavy drinking and conduct disorder to high-risk sexual behaviors that can, in turn, lead to unintended pregnancies, infection, and damage to reproductive health. A new study has linked the clinical diagnoses of alcohol dependence and conduct disorder among 18-to-25-year-olds to the risk of having a high number of sexual partners.

"Our study is the first of its kind to link problematic drinking and alcohol dependence with a high number of sex partners," said Patricia A. Cavazos-Rehg, research instructor in the Department of Psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine and corresponding author for the study. "We have moved beyond self-reports of heavy and/or frequent drinking to utilizing a clinical diagnosis of alcohol dependence in order to improve understanding of how alcohol use influences risky sexual behaviors."

"The relationship between risky sexual behavior and conduct disorder has been well documented, especially among young women," added Denise Hallfors, senior research scientist at the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation. "What was not known was whether alcohol dependence and conduct disorder independently contribute to the number of sexual partners. Previous studies tended to look at either alcohol dependence and conduct disorder, or conduct disorder and sexual risk, or heavy drinking and sexual risk, but not at all three behaviors together."

IHT Examines Efforts Aimed at Providing Prison Inmates With Condoms to Reduce of HIV

The AP/International Herald Tribune on Monday examined nationwide efforts to provide prison inmates with condoms in an attempt to reduce the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. According to the AP/Herald Tribune, efforts by HIV/AIDS and prisoners' rights advocates to distribute condoms in prisons have gone "almost nowhere" because some prison officials and politicians argue that they encourage sexual activity among inmates and can be used to hide drugs.

Vermont and five other cities in the U.S. allow inmates regular access to condoms, the AP/Herald Tribune reports. Vermont's Department of Corrections has provided condom access in prisons since 1992 even though prison regulations ban sexual activity. The program provides inmates one condom at a time if they request it from a health worker. "It's a courageous position that Vermont took then and continues to have now," the corrections department's health services director, Dolores Burroughs-Biron, said, adding that there have been no reports of security problems as a result of the program.