Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) News and Research

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Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are infections that you can get from having sex with someone who has the infection. The causes of STDs are bacteria, parasites and viruses.

Circumcision rates decline in the US: Study

A new study has shown that circumcision rates among US baby boys have fallen. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which published the study in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, circumcision rates dropped from around 62 percent in 1999 to 57 percent in 2008.

5 Sep 2011

HIV/AIDS policies “woefully inadequate” in Britain: Report

AIDS and HIV prevention policies in Britain are “woefully inadequate” and must be improved, a House of Lords committee warned today. The report by the Lord Select Committee is published on the 25th anniversary of the 'Don't Die of Ignorance' campaign, a public health initiative launched to try to stem the spread of the virus.

2 Sep 2011

Guatemalan Syphilis study in 1940’s violated ethical standards: US presidential commission report

The U.S. presidential commission has found that U.S. government researchers violated ethical standards by deliberately infecting Guatemalan prison inmates and mental patients with syphilis for an experiment in the 1940s. This research did not treat Guatemalan participants as human beings and failed to inform them they were taking part in research study, calling into question the bioethics behind the study design.

31 Aug 2011

Australian youth mostly ignorant about sexual health

The survey found that most of the young people do not know about Pap smears, sexually transmitted infections and how the contraceptive pill works.

18 Aug 2011

New HIV numbers stable at 50,000 per year, down from 130,000 in the mid-1980s

According to government figures released Wednesday, the number of Americans newly infected with the AIDS virus each year has been holding steady at about 50,000. But a U.S. health official said just keeping the number stable was unacceptable, noting a dramatic increase in new HIV cases among young gay and bisexual black men.

5 Aug 2011

Study looks at HIV infections in Middle East and North Africa

New research shows that sex between men (MSM - Men who have Sex with Men) is responsible for more than a quarter of new HIV infections in parts of the Middle East and North Africa.

3 Aug 2011

Hepatitis on the rise

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the battle is on to fight the rising numbers of hepatitis B cases. Medical experts are calling for global action to tackle the viruses that cause the liver disease hepatitis. The first worldwide estimates in drug users show 10 million have hepatitis C while 1.3 million have hepatitis B.

29 Jul 2011

Circumcision prevents HIV transmission & cocktail of anti-HIV drugs prolong life

Reports came in last Wednesday that circumcision reduces transmission of HIV, in regions where transmission is high. To researchers, this procedure proves to be a cost-effective way to handle the pandemic. In South Africa, a study reported that men with circumcisions reduced new HIV infections by 76%.

24 Jul 2011

Partners of Bacterial Vaginosis sufferers at increased risk of HIV

Starpharma Holdings Limited today commented on results of a study which showed that men were three times more likely to contract HIV from their female partners if the women also had bacterial vaginosis (BV) in the three months before the men became infected.

18 Jul 2011

Daily pill ‘combo’ prevents HIV transmission: New African study

According two studies in Africa, taking a daily pill containing either one or two anti-HIV drugs can reduce transmission of the virus by as much as three-quarters among heterosexual couples. This is an encouraging finding that could help focus on AIDS prevention. The results were so compelling that the larger study was halted early and the drugs given to all the participants, researchers said Wednesday.

13 Jul 2011

Sexually transmitted diseases more common in women age 40

A 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.

12 Jul 2011

Drug resistant gonorrhea discovered

Japanese scientists have found a superbug strain of gonorrhea that’s resistant to all available antibiotics. This can pose a threat to public health worldwide, infectious disease experts say.

11 Jul 2011

Simple and cheap Syphilis test could save the lives of millions of babies

Syphilis, a sexually transmitted disease that has been a taboo for decades, kills an estimated one million newborn and stillborn babies every year. However a simple test for every pregnant woman followed by antibiotics for those infected would stop the deaths.

16 Jun 2011

Global initiative to prevent HIV in babies

World leaders met to decide on the launch of a global plan with the goal of ensuring that every baby is born HIV-free by 2015 and that their mothers with the HIV virus live to raise them.

9 Jun 2011

HIV positive man puts three women at risk

An HIV-positive man, John Choul Chan, 42, of Findon, South Australia, admitted to endangering the lives of three women through unprotected sex.

7 Jun 2011

AIDS spread prevention by vaccine and anti HIV drugs

A latest vaccine against HIV/AIDS has shown to be effective in monkeys and has protected macaques the most widespread primate genus, against the monkey equivalent of HIV, Simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV). This could provide a fresh approach to an HIV vaccine, a study suggests. US researchers say the vaccine offered protection to 13 of 24 Rhesus macaques treated in the experiment. In 12 of the monkeys, the vaccine was still effective 12 months later.

15 May 2011

Early treatment of HIV makes infection transmission less likely: Study

“It's a game-changer,” Michel Sidibe, executive director of UNAIDS, said. “I am completely amazed.” It was noted that anti-HIV drugs called antiretroviral drugs can suppress HIV in an infected patient and also help to prevent its spread through intercourse, he said. He predicted a rethink of the strategies that have evolved since the first cases of AIDS were recorded in June 1981. “The implications are multiple,” said Mr Sidibe. “However, money will be the major challenge.”

15 May 2011

MIGMH awarded $2.1 million grant for STD/HIV regional educational center

The Mississippi Institute of Geographic and Minority Health (MIGMH) at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) has been awarded a three-year, $2.1 million grant to operate a regional educational center for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to teach interventions that prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and HIV.

10 May 2011

Starpharma inks licence agreement in Japan with Okamoto for VivaGel-coated condoms

Starpharma Holdings Limited today announced that it has signed a licence agreement with Okamoto Industries Inc in relation to the VivaGel(r)-coated condom for the Japanese market. Okamoto is the market leader for condoms sold in Japan, the world's second largest condom market.

10 May 2011

Gay men in Britain allowed to give blood after a decade of celibacy: Trust system

The ban on gay men in Britain donating blood is being lifted because it was decided that the rule could be discriminatory and might breach equality legislation.

11 Apr 2011