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WASHINGTON -- A particularly bad strain of chlamydia not usually seen in this country appears to be slowly spreading among gay and bisexual men, an infection that can increase their chances of getting or spreading the AIDS virus. Called LGV chlamydia, this sexually transmitted disease has caused a worrisome outbreak in Europe, where some countries have confirmed dozens of cases. Diagnoses confirmed by U.S. health officials still are low, just 27 since they warned a year ago that the strain was headed here. But specialists say that's undoubtedly a fraction of the infections, because this illness is incredibly hard to...

Alair is wearing a tight white tank top cut off above the hem to show her midriff. Her black cargo pants graze the top of her combat boots, and her black leather belt is studded with metal chains that drape down at intervals across her hips. She has long blonde curls that at various times have been dyed green, blue, red, purple, and orange. (“A mistake,” she says. “Even if you mean to dye your hair orange, it’s still a mistake.”) Despite the fact that she’s fully clothed, she seems somehow exposed, her baby fat lingering in all the right...

Medicine usually progresses in incremental steps. One antidepressant or cholesterol-lowering drug follows another with only marginally improved therapeutic benefit. Vaccines are different. Disease prevention through immunization, whether for polio or mumps, has the potential to transform medical practice, sometimes eliminating illness altogether. Smallpox is now (we hope) confined to heavily protected freezers in Russia and at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Vaccine developers appear to be on the verge of another remarkable achievement. Two vaccines that are nearing approval by the Food and Drug Administration in the U.S.--one from Merck, the other from Glaxo­SmithKline--have demonstrated in...

New research suggests that the gonorrhea-like condition known as urethritis, perhaps the most common sexually transmitted disease, can spread to men when they're on the receiving end of fellatio. "This one really nails it down," said Dr. Hunter Handsfield, a professor of medicine at the University of Washington who wrote a commentary about the findings. Urethritis, a condition related to a number of health problems, such as urinary tract infections and some sexually transmitted diseases, causes inflammation of the urethra. It can lead to genital discharge, burning during urination and redness and swelling at the tip of the penis, said...

Most sexually active teenage girls know relatively little about sexually transmitted diseases until it is too late, according to new research. In a survey of 300 adolescent girls in the Pittsburgh area, Carnegie Mellon University researchers found that girls who reported having been diagnosed with an STD knew more about that particular disease than other girls, but did not know more about the other diseases. The findings are published in the January edition of the Journal of Adolescent Health. On average, with the exception of HIV/AIDS, the teens did not know many basic facts about STDs, said Julie Downs, lead...

An off-duty Morris Township police officer who warned his brother-in-law's friend that the woman he was dating might have AIDS was doing his job by trying to prevent the spread of disease, an appeals court ruled yesterday. A three-judge panel ordered the township to pick up the $15,000 legal bill that officer Louis Pirrello ran up defending himself in a defamation suit brought by the woman. "His actions were intended to prevent the transmission of AIDS," Appellate Court Judge Michael Winkelstein wrote in a 21-page opinion. The head of Eric Johnson House, a Morristown shelter for homeless people with HIV...

After reading all of the crap that people have been saying regarding Adult Private Social Clubs, I felt that I had to post an article and give my opinion. I am sick and tired of all the religous groups that are saying that there are drugs, prostitution, minors, non-consenting people, and just immoral people at these clubs! First of all, who do these people think they are to decide what is morally right or wrong for me? I believe that I have a good set of morals. I am a law abiding, tax paying citizen, I work full time and...

If you have a sexually transmitted disease like herpes, gonorrhea or HIV, telling your partner or partners may be one of the most difficult things you ever do. Difficult, but not impossible, especially if the news is delivered anonymously. Some people in California have come up with a unique way to avoid one of the most unpleasant conversations two people can have. Instead of having to tell someone face-to-face or calling someone to tell them they might need to be tested, you can now send a E-card. Dr. Jonathan Fielding is the Director of Public Health for Los Angeles County....

You've got mail, and maybe gonorrhoea By Jill Serjeant Thu Dec 15,11:34 PM ET LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - You've got mail -- and possibly gonorrhoea, HIV or another sexually transmitted disease. E-mail sent through Web sites launched in Los Angeles and San Francisco is providing people with a free, sometimes anonymous, way to tell their casual sex partners they might have picked up more than they bargained for. Los Angeles County health officials launched www.inspotla.org this week in a bid to reduce the rapidly rising spread of STDs by encouraging sexually active men and women to get tested. "This is...

In an age when many search for sex on the Internet, Los Angeles County health officials on Wednesday unveiled a controversial tool to fight the spread of HIV and other diseases: a website that helps send anonymous e-mail warning people that they might be infected. Through the website, inSPOTLA.org, users can send a free, unsigned electronic postcard with a standard message or a personal note, thus avoiding an awkward conversation that many people would rather not have. The idea is to help people be more forthcoming with sexual partners so those at risk of sexually transmitted diseases get tested and...

PAHRUMP -- She has yet to apply for a brothel license, but former "Hollywood Madam" Heidi Fleiss has moved to Nye County and revealed the identity of the first man picked to work at her Stud Farm for women in nearby Crystal.

Here's the formula for the AIDS epidemic: First, start with a deadly contagious virus. Second, take no serious measures as dangerous behavior patterns multiply. Third, ignore the obvious lessons of epidemiological and medical history -- try demagoguery instead. Fourth, apply copious amounts of sentiment and red-ribbon artistry to the issue, substituting, in effect, sentiment for science. Fifth, stand back and watch tens of millions of people die. Repeat these five steps for as long as you wish. If you do so, you will find that AIDS is never cured, no matter how many press releases are issued, no matter how...

In Berkeley, where revolutionaries schooled in the '60s tilt against global capitalism and post-socialist state China is a growing field of academic study, radicals and scholars alike are coming to grips with a new biography that paints Chinese communist icon Mao Zedong as pure evil. In "Mao: The Unknown Story," authors Jung Chang and Jon Halliday portray Mao (1893-1976) as a cynical hedonist who rose to absolute power on Soviet strongman Josef Stalin's muscle and his willingness to crush millions of peasants in famine, war and sadistic repression. The authors, who spent a decade on the project and scoured private...

Certain cases of mouth cancer appear to be caused by a virus that can be contracted during oral sex, media reported, quoting a new Swedish study. People who contract a high-risk variety of the human papilloma virus, HPV, during oral sex are more likely to fall ill with mouth cancer, according to a study conducted at the Malmo University Faculty of Odontology in southern Sweden. "You should avoid having oral sex," dentist and researcher Kerstin Rosenquist, who headed the study, told Swedish news agency TT. HPV is a wart virus that causes many cervical cancers, including endometrial cancer (in the...

Gonorrhea rates in the United States have fallen to their lowest level on record, but rates of two other sexually transmitted diseases, syphilis and chlamydia, are rising, federal health officials said yesterday. The rates, though of concern, are low compared with years ago. Still, an estimated 19 million new infections of sexually transmitted diseases, or S.T.D.'s, occurred in 2004 at estimated health care costs of $19 billion, officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Many cases of the three bacterial diseases reported yesterday go undetected, while many diagnosed cases are not reported. Also, two common viral diseases,...

A quarter of UK sex health clinics cannot treat patients needing urgent help within the recommended 48 hours, the BBC's Panorama programme has found. The programme contacted 269 clinics and found that, in some cases, patients could wait weeks to be seen. Waiting times have grown so much that one clinic was taking bookings nine weeks in advance. The Department of Health said more needed to be done, and it was investing £300m over the next three years. One of the most senior sexual health clinicians in the country, Professor George Kinghorn, told Panorama that the situation amounted to a...

(AgapePress) - New statistics on the promiscuity of American teenagers indicate there is a great deal of work to be done in teaching young people to remain sexually pure. The National Center for Health Statistics has released a report that says more than half of American youth ages 15 to 19 have engaged in oral sex, and 70 percent of the 18- and 19-year-olds surveyed admitted to engaging in such activity. Bill Albert, communications director for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy (NCPTC), says parents need to understand that they influence their teens' decisions about sex more than any...

(Bill wants it taught as preferred practice) When Denisse Guadalupe was 14, a friend confided that she was having oral sex with her boyfriend, but not sexual intercourse. The friend called herself a virgin. Guadalupe didn't know any better. One day Guadalupe noticed her friend, then 15, had sores on her lips. Neither girl had a clue what they were, but Guadalupe suggested that her friend see a doctor. The tests came back positive for herpes. Guadalupe testified Thursday before the Senate Education Committee against a proposal that would elevate the teaching of abstinence in public school sex education courses....

The Respect For All Project and the National Education Association have teamed up in an exciting partnership to create safe learning environments for all students, using the RFAP films Let's Get Real, That's a Family! and It's Elementary. The Training Program on School Safety and Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues in Education, designed by the NEA and RFAP, will train 30 association members from across the country to conduct trainings to increase awareness of LGBT issues among teachers. The NEA estimates that the program will reach at least 5,000 educators during the 2005-2006 school year. The NEA's Health Information...

20TH WORLD SCOUT JAMBOREE Sexual shenanigans spice up camp life It's nothing unusual, say teenage visitors Anucha Charoenpo Young love birds share an intimate moment yesterday during a party for participants in the World Scout Jamboree at Haad Yao beach in Sattahip. _ JETJARAS NA RANONG Scouts from Western countries say having sex and forming relationships is common practice among participants at the 20th World Scout Jamboree in Sattahip. They say they are well aware of the risk of sexually transmitted disease and take the necessary precautions. Rob Rolfe, 17, from Britain, said he believed some couples were having sex...