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Just in time for Valentine’s Day, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control released data Wednesday revealing that 20 million new sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are diagnosed each year nationwide, costing some $16 billion in taxpayer funds. Half of the 20 million new infections affect people ages 15 to 24 - who only make up a quarter of the population,l according to the statistics. Human papillomavirus (HPV) tops the list as the most common infection followed by chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, herpes, hepatitis B, HIV and trichomoniasis.

Johns Hopkins expert calls for testing and mandatory reportingA Johns Hopkins infectious disease expert is calling for all sexually active American women age 40 and older to get tested for the parasite Trichomonas vaginalis after new study evidence found that the sexually transmitted disease (STD) is more than twice as common in this age group than previously thought. Screening is especially important because in many cases there are no symptoms. "We usually think of STDs as more prevalent in young people, but our study results clearly show that with trichomonas, while too many young people have it, even more, older...

A new study from the Indiana University School of Medicine and the Regenstrief Institute has found that Black and especially Hispanic young women are screened for chlamydia at a significantly higher rate than young white women. This discrepancy in screening rates may contribute to nationwide reporting of higher rates of this sexually transmitted disease among minority young women... Despite a recommendation from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force to annually screen all sexually active young women for this disease, only about half of sexually active women, ages 14 to 25, who receive health care, are screened appropriately. The IU and...

(CNSNews.com) - The federal government has spent $550,496 on a project that involved conducting “focus groups and in-depth interviews” with American long-haul truck drivers to learn about their sex lives in order to assess their risk of contracting HIV or other sexually transmitted infections. The project has failed to find any instances of HIV among the truck drivers studied. “Several international studies have documented substantial levels of sexual risk behaviors and high rates of STI and HIV amongst long-distance truck drivers living in diverse settings including India, Bangladesh, South Africa and Thailand,” says the abstract for the grant published by...

LONDON (Reuters) – The sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea risks becoming a drug-resistant "superbug" if doctors do not devise new ways of treating it, a leading sexual health expert said. Catherine Ison, a specialist on gonorrhea from Britain's Health Protection Agency said a World Health Organization (WHO) meeting in Manila next week would be vital to efforts to try to stop the bug repeatedly adapting to and overcoming drugs. "This is a very clever bacteria. If this problem isn't addressed, there is a real possibility that gonorrhea will become a very difficult infection to treat," she said in a telephone interview....

One of the first states to attempt to tally the "new jobs" that Obama's stimulus created has issued its first report and the news is rather discreditable to say the least. New Hampshire's Director of the Economic Stimulus, Bud Fitch, recently put out his report and he is asserting that the stimulus "saved" or created 796 jobs in all of the state. Naturally 700 of those jobs were government jobs. New Hampshire Public Radio interviewed economist Brian Gottlob who warned that the supposed 700 jobs saved, nearly all were in education, were probably not jobs on the chopping block in...

WHEN the sun sets over Angeles City, the neon glow from a single street illuminates everything around it. Set away from the smoke-filled traffic jams of the city's main thoroughfares, Fields Avenue comes alive after dark. This dusty street, which stretches for a kilometre, is lined on both sides with bars and nightclubs, each attempting to out-do the other with gaudy lights and tasteless names. Outside each bar stand groups of up to 10 girls. Their job is a straightforward one: they must encourage passing tourists to come into their premises for a drink. Once inside, the tourist will encounter...

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...

LOS ANGELES--Today saw the second of the big three console makers announce its next-generation platform. At its pre-E3 press conference, Sony Computer Entertainment gave the world its first look at the PlayStation 3, as it is now officially called. While the device's price has not yet been set, its release window--spring 2006--has. Flanked by Sony Computer Entertainment America President and CEO Kaz Hirai, SCE head Ken Kutaragi introduced it as a "supercomputer for computer entertainment." The name was not unexpected, since Sony had been running an extensive teaser-ad campaign prepping the public for the PlayStation 3. The company had laid...

Rare Sexually Transmitted Disease Strikes 2 in N.Y. Wed Feb 2, 5:06 PM ET Health - Reuters NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two New Yorkers have been diagnosed with a rare sexually transmitted disease that is spreading among gay and bisexual men in Europe, the city health commissioner said on Wednesday. The disease, known as LGV or Lymphogranuloma venereum, is caused by specific strains of chlamydia and is often marked by painful, bloody rectal infection and genital ulcers. "LGV is a serious condition and its emergence in New York City reflects continuing high levels of unsafe sexual activity among men who...

All plants and animals that reproduce sexually may develop sexually transmitted infections. They are also very common among humans. Unfortunately, many people consider sexually transmitted infection a moral issue. But the stigma and shame that result may lead people to neglect taking good care of their sexual health. Many people find it very difficult to talk about their sexual health. But discomfort and shame can get in the way of common sense. They can keep people from taking good care of themselves and their partners by practicing safer sex and getting annual sexual-health checkups with their health care providers.