Sexual Health News and Research

Latest Sexual Health News and Research

40% of gay men with HIV don't know they are infected

A survey of gay men questioned at gay venues in cities across the UK has found that most of those with undiagnosed HIV infection assumed they were HIV negative. Most of them had previously tested negative and thought they were in the clear. It's feared these men could unknowingly be putting others at risk. These are the findings of a study led by Dr Lisa Williamson at the MRC Social and Public Health Sciences Unit in Glasgow and published in the journal, AIDS.

17 Jun 2008

Taking the sex out of sexual health screening

Young women would accept age-based screening for the sexually transmitted infection chlamydia, but would want this test to be offered to everyone, rather than to people 'singled out' according to their sexual history.

9 May 2008

Young people are drinking and taking drugs to enhance sexual arousal or prolong sex

Teenagers and young adults across Europe drink and take drugs as part of deliberate sexual strategies. Findings published in BioMed Central's open access journal, BMC Public Health, reveal that a third of 16-35 year old males and a quarter of females surveyed are drinking alcohol to increase their chances of sex, while cocaine, ecstasy and cannabis are intentionally used to enhance sexual arousal or prolong sex.

9 May 2008

Sex could motivate obese men to lose weight

A specialist in men's health suggests that warning overweight men about the consequences of fat on their sex lives may help them shed their kilos where other strategies have failed.

11 Mar 2008

Experimental anti-HIV gel is safe for women to use on a daily basis

An experimental anti-HIV gel is safe for women to use on a daily basis, according to researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

26 Feb 2008

Quality schooling has little impact on teenage sexual activity

A report published in the online open access journal, BMC Public Health, shows that socio-economic situation and the local high school catchment area have a more powerful influence on reported sexual experience among 15 and 16 year olds than classroom discipline or the quality of relationships within schools.

8 Feb 2008

Abstinence-plus programs for HIV prevention can reduce risk behavior

Programmes that aim to encourage sexual abstinence while also encouraging and teaching safer sex strategies for those who are sexually active can reduce short- and long-term HIV risk behaviour among young people in high-income countries, according to the findings of a new Cochrane Review.

24 Jan 2008

Start sex education at age five says top medical expert

One of Britain's top medical experts says children as young as five should be given sex education lessons when they start school.

2 Jan 2008

Experts in Britain say give away free condoms in pubs, clubs and taxis

Experts in Britain say one way of reducing the soaring numbers of sexual transmitted infections would be to give away free condoms in pubs, clubs and taxis.

19 Dec 2007

Doctors failing to diagnose HIV early in UK Africans

Doctors are missing valuable opportunities to diagnose HIV in Africans living in the UK, with serious consequences for their long term health, according to research funded by the Wellcome Trust.

10 Dec 2007

New figures show an alarming incidence of HIV in MSM

On World AIDS Day 2007, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of men who have sex with men (MSM) will become infected with HIV in cities across the Asia Pacific, becoming the latest statistics in an almost unrecognized but ever-growing crisis that many governments in the region are only just beginning to grapple with.

29 Nov 2007

New challenges for diagnosis of bacterial STIs

This year cases of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) have risen by 2% in the UK, in spite of a small drop in the incidence of syphilis and gonorrhoea, according to scientists speaking today (Wednesday 28 November 2007) at the Federation of Infection Societies Conference 2007 at the University of Cardiff, UK, which runs from 28-30 November 2007.

27 Nov 2007

Do rural and non-rural single, young adults differ in their risk and protective HIV/STD behaviors?

Single young adults living in rural areas are no more inclined to engage in safe sex behaviors than their non-rural peers, according to a new analysis by Indiana University sexual health experts of a nationally representative survey.

27 Nov 2007

Persistent genital arousal disorder in women

New research shows that women suffering from Persistent Genital Arousal Disorder (PGAD), a condition marked by unprovoked, intrusive and persistent sensations of genital arousal that are unrelieved by one or several orgasms, are likely to experience a variety of associated psychological conditions.

19 Nov 2007

A comprehensive survey on the health of college students

A report released by the University of Minnesota Boynton Health Service is the first of its kind in the nation to conduct a comprehensive survey on the health of college students.

16 Nov 2007

Early teen sex may play role in helping some develop better social relationships in early adulthood

A new study by University of Virginia clinical psychologists has found that teens who have sex at an early age may be less inclined to exhibit delinquent behavior in early adulthood than their peers who waited until they were older to have sex.

13 Nov 2007

Holiday sex common place in young Britons

Around one in five young Britons has sex with a new partner while overseas, finds research published ahead of print in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections.

13 Nov 2007

Online NHS programme uses traffic light system to rate patient's health

An online programme launched by the National Health Service in Britain uses a 'traffic light' system to rate people's health status.

7 Nov 2007

Attitudes of teenagers and professionals to sex, relationships, sexual health and teenage pregnancy

The findings of a two year cross-channel teenage pregnancy project will be presented at a conference in Amiens on 8 October.

8 Oct 2007

AIDS Healthcare Foundation's innovative "Stay Negative" campaign successfully breaks through to target audience

A post-campaign survey of AIDS Healthcare Foundation's (AHF) innovative "Stay Negative" social marketing campaign recently revealed the initiative's success at breaking through to its target audience and reaching its objective to create an effective health education and risk reduction campaign to raise awareness among gay males in Los Angeles County that HIV infection is still a serious threat.

4 Oct 2007