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A new study has found that adolescent girls who have good grades and girls who perceive that their parents strongly disapprove of their having sex are less likely than others to contract sexually transmitted diseases by the time they reach young adulthood. The predictors did not apply to boys. On the other hand, the study found that taking a virginity pledge, being strongly religious or attending a parochial school made no difference in a girl's risk for S.T.D.'s six years later, nor did a parent's attitude, favorable or unfavorable, toward contraception. Dr. Carol A. Ford, the lead author on the...

Gays faced with new STD strains By JACOB GOLDSTEIN jgoldstein@herald.com In the past five years, without much fanfare, a syphilis epidemic has emerged among gay men in South Florida and around the country. Nationwide, rates of drug-resistant gonorrhea have risen rapidly in gay men. And a rare form of chlamydia has spread among gay men in Europe, moved to Canada and New England, and may have made its way to South Florida. Syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia are all curable, but they can be painful and, if not treated promptly, can cause long-term damage. And having a sexually transmitted disease makes...

risky behaviour causes it???) ATLANTA - Black Americans represent only 12 percent of the population, but we account for more than half of all new cases of HIV/AIDS. That frightening fact was one of the headline statistics to emerge from a conference in Atlanta last week held by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The highest rate of infection in the country occurs among bisexual black men. And that has implications for black women, who are 19 times more likely to be infected than white women. That's because so many black men have unprotected sex with other men but...

Challenging earlier findings, two studies from the Heritage Foundation reported yesterday that young people who took virginity pledges had lower rates of acquiring sexually transmitted diseases and engaged in fewer risky sexual behaviors. The new findings were based on the same national survey used by earlier studies and conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services. But the authors of the new study used different methods of statistical analysis from those in an earlier one that was widely publicized, making direct comparisons difficult. Independent experts called the new findings provocative, but criticized the Heritage team's analysis as flawed and...

LGV cases in U.S., Canadian cities point to spike in anonymous sex acts In an eerily similar way to how HIV/AIDS was first spread, a heretofore rare sexually transmitted disease some are calling the "new AIDS" is making its way through the male homosexual community in Canada and the U.S. According to a report in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, lymphogranuloma venereum, or LGV, has been identified in 22 homosexual and bisexual men in Canada in recent months, all of whom practice risky sexual behavior – including anal sex without a condom, ingesting the drug crystal meth anally and "fisting."...

In an eerily similar way to how HIV/AIDS was first spread, a heretofore rare sexually transmitted disease some are calling the "new AIDS" is making its way through the male homosexual community in Canada and the U.S. According to a report in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, lymphogranuloma venereum, or LGV, has been identified in 22 homosexual and bisexual men in Canada in recent months, all of whom practice risky sexual behavior – including anal sex without a condom, ingesting the drug crystal meth anally and "fisting." Six cases have been identified in Boston, Mass., reports the Associated Press, while...

A sexually transmitted disease rarely seen in recent decades in the United States has reemerged in Boston and other American cities in the past six months, fostering fears that it could herald a new wave of infections of an even more dangerous disease, AIDS. The return of lymphogranuloma venereum, known as LGV, to North America also illustrates the increasing globalization of infectious diseases in an era of rapid air transit and frequent travel for work and pleasure, disease specialists said. the disease is endemic to Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia. ''This is probably a case of biological tourism," said...

University of Arizona researchers discovered that the recreational use of drugs such as Cialis, Levitra and Viagra by gay men increases the chances they'll have sex without a condom by as much as 600%. As a result, those men were also twice as likely to be diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease. And half mixed the prescription medication with an illegal drug, including ecstasy and methamphetamine.

A friend just passed me a report I urge all parents to read: "Chains of Affection: The Structure of Adolescent Romantic and Sexual Networks," by Peter S. Bearman, James Moody and Katherine Stovel. The report (www.sociology. ohio-state.edu/jwm/ chains.pdf), published in the July 2004 issue of the American Journal of Sociology, presents a daunting picture of what is happening in American high schools. The researchers interviewed students from the only high school in a mostly white Midwestern town. The town was an hour from the nearest large city, a factor important in ensuring that the researchers were dealing with a rather...

SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras (Reuters) - With his mother long dead and his father off with a new family, nobody comes to visit Carlos, 27, as he sits blinded by AIDS and awaiting death in a charity hospice. His father, who left him alone to care for his grandmother until she died, won't let him near his home, mistakenly believing he will infect his family by sharing their toilet, Carlos explains, the hurt spilling out of his sightless eyes. Typical of the kind of Honduran now catching the virus, the boyish-faced former factory worker is neither sexually promiscuous nor an...

More and more gay men in Connecticut are contracting syphilis, a life-threatening sexually transmitted disease, according to new statistics from the state Department of Public Health. Forty-five new cases of primary and secondary syphilis in Connecticut residents were reported to the state in 2004 -- more than triple the number of cases reported just four years ago, and 50 percent more than last year. Of those 45 new cases, 34 were gay men, including 12 who live in lower Fairfield County. The disease -- an epidemic a decade ago among poor blacks in Connecticut's larger cities -- is spreading quickly...

A newly developed vaccine for a virus linked to cervical cancer is likely to be widely welcomed as a crucial tool in the war against the killer disease - but also looks set to trigger a new ethical debate. Manufacturers of the vaccine for the human papilloma virus (HPV) say that in order to be effective, it must be taken before girls become sexually active, and so should be given to pre-teens. HPV is a common sexually transmitted infection, which has multiple types, including types that are the leading cause of cervical cancer. Health authorities say it's the second most...

Due to a shortage of both funds and volunteers, East San Jose's Community Pregnancy Center, a non-profit clinic that provides free and comprehensive pregnancy information and support for women, will be closing its doors. Other CPCs in the Silicon Valley remain open, but rely on donations and volunteers to continue and expand their services. 79% of women who receive an abortion say they were not counseled on alternatives. In fact, 84% of post-abortive women believe that they did not receive adequate counseling before having their abortion.* The Community Pregnancy Centers seek to fill this need by providing complete and comprehensive...

New US government website attacked for comments on sexuality and effectiveness of condoms (Extract from one of the many articles in the gay and liberal press attacking the new semi honest position on useless condoms) The wording of information about condoms on the site is also potentially misleading (they mean factual). US abstinence education programmes usually only mention condoms when referring to their potential for failure. The 4parents.com site suggests that condoms offer only “moderate” protection against HIV and gonorrhoea, “less” protection against Chlamidya, herpes and human papilloma virus, and that the ability of condoms to protect against syphilis “has...

At first blush, a vaccine that prevents a deadly form of cancer would seem like a no-brainer for parents. But as two major drug makers prepare to introduce such a product, sides are already being drawn in what promises to be an all-out culture clash. Within two years, Merck and GlaxoSmithKline hope to market a pair of groundbreaking vaccines to prevent a sexually transmitted disease. Known as the human papillomavirus, or HPV, the disease is a leading cause of cervical cancer. About 5,000 women in the United States die each year from cervical cancer. One drug maker, Merck & Co....

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0405051vick1.html Michael Vick Hit With Sex Suit Woman claims star NFL quarterback passed along herpes in 2003 APRIL 5--Claiming that Michael Vick gave her herpes, a Georgia woman is suing the star NFL quarterback for negligence and battery. According to the below lawsuit, Sonya Elliot, a 26-year-old health care worker, was infected with the sexually transmitted disease in April 2003 after an unprotected encounter with Vick at the athlete's Duluth, Georgia home. Elliott alleges that after testing positive for Herpes Simplex 2, she confronted the Atlanta Falcons star, 24, about her condition. "I've got something to tell you. I've got...

Study: Half Of Sexually Active Young People Get STDs POSTED: 7:30 am CDT April 5, 2005 RALEIGH, N.C. -- A new study suggests 50 percent of sexually active young people will contract a sexually transmitted disease by the time they're 25. Dr. James Allen, president the nonprofit group American Social Health Association, said our nation fails to address the problem of STDs in young people. He said about two-thirds of young people assume they're being tested for STDs during regular health visits when, in fact, such testing is not routine. Allen also said many STD cases go undetected because some...

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- A woman is suing Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, claiming he knowingly gave her a sexually transmitted disease. In the civil lawsuit, Sonya Elliott, who says she is Vick's former girlfriend, claims Vick gave her genital herpes in an April 2003 encounter. In the complaint, Elliott, 26, seeks damages, alleging negligence by Vick, unwanted physical contact, pain, suffering and potential future medical complications.

new vaccine against cervical cancer has proved highly successful in trials and could be on the market in two years, experts have said. Gardasil protects women against four strains of the human papilloma virus (HPV), a common, sexually transmitted virus that can lead to cervical cancer. Results published in The Lancet Oncology reveal that the vaccine, developed by Merck & Co, reduced persistent HPV infection and related genital disease by 90 per cent compared to a dummy injection. The trial involved 522 healthy women aged between 16 and 23 in the US, Brazil and Europe and marks a breakthrough in...

On February 11 health officials in Ner York City reported the appearance in one man of a highly virulent strain of HIV, called 3-DCR HIV, that's resistant to three classes of antiretroviral drugs; the man's infection apparently progressed to AIDS very quickly -- within a few months (it often takes as long as a decade). He is in his mid-40's, had unprotected anal sex with numerous men in October 2004 (at which time he used crystal meth), and had not previously been treated for HIV infection. And just nine days before that announcement, city health officials had reported the appearance...