February saw the publication of what is probably the largest study of the association in sub-Saharan Africa between intravaginal practices – e.g. cleaning with cloth, paper or soap – and HIV incidence. It is a meta-analysis pooling data of 15,000 women deriving from 13 prospective longitudinal cohort studies. A preponderance of HIV affected sub-Saharans are […]
Latest articles
The case for better Hepatitis C surveillance in HIV-infected men
Far more needs to be done to diagnose incident Hepatitis C (HCV) in HIV-infected men in the era highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART). This is the message coming out of a recent US long-term study (http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2011/01/29/cid.ciq201.full). Current US Public Health Service HIV guidelines endorse HCV testing only at initial HIV diagnosis – maybe because of […]
Why did the HIV epidemic decline in Zimbabwe ?
Why did Zimbabwe experience a remarkable decline in HIV prevalence, from 29% to 16% of adult population between 1997 and 2007, with incidence decline strongly accelerated between about 1999 and 2003? Why was this decline experienced in Zimbabwe and not in other countries? Are there lessons to be learnt from Zimbabwe’s experience? Basing itself on […]
Centres of sexual health misinformation ?
A recent judgment by a federal judge in Baltimore US marks the another move in the ongoing political struggle around Crisis Pregnancy Centres (CPCs), or Limited Service Pregnancy Centres (http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jan/28/pregnancy-disclaimer-law-ruled-unconstitutional/). These volunteer run centres have established themselves with some social service agencies as an appropriate referral for women facing unintended pregnancy. According to their detractors […]
Should boys have HPV vaccination?
3rd February saw the publication of the results of a 4 year study to ascertain the efficacy of HPV vaccine for boys against HPV strains 6, 11, 16 and 18 . The sponsors were Merck, producers of the HPV vaccine, Gardasil. The double-blind study included 4,065 healthy men aged 16-26 in 18 countries. Efficacy was […]
Sexual health this week…chlamydia, female circumcision, WHO and America’s future
Better access to reproductive health care in the US: a promise stillborn? A Step Forward. Obama’s health reform (PL111-148), while conceding nothing to the pro-choice lobby, offers genuine promise of better access to sexual health care. This is thanks to Barbara Mikuski’s provision requiring all new health insurance plans to cover preventive services for women […]
STI news
The cost of Pelvic Inflammatory Disease: a case for the promotion of outpatient services? A US study on the financial implications of PID in adolescents draws attention to patients’ under-use of appropriate outpatient services and the enormous cost of cases requiring hospitalization. The adolescents in the study, from black, low-income backgrounds, were mostly first seen […]
New STI surveillance data in England
STI surveillance in England has taken a major step forward with the first publication of STI data based on GUMCAD (Genitourinary Medicine Clinic Activity Dataset). For the first time, the genitourinary medicine(GUM) clinic data are based on a disaggregate dataset, using pseudonymised individual level data, rather than an aggregate summary. As a consequence, we […]
STI on the BBC
We at STI were delighted to see that one of our research papers (http://sti.bmj.com/content/early/2010/06/07/sti.2009.041954.short?q=w_sti_ahead_tab ) had been picked up by the British Broadcasting Corporation `s news website ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/10401029.stm). It reports a dutch study on STI rates amongst “swingers” ( heterosexual couples who are practising mate swapping, group sex or visit sex clubs for couples). The […]
BASHH( British Association for Sexual Health and HIV ) Ordinary General Meeting 11th June 2010 – Highlights blog
Lots of very interesting stuff at this 4 times a year single afternoon and evening meeting held at the sumptuous Royal Society of Medicine venue in central London. For me it is certainly worth the 2 hour train journey from the north of England. The afternoon was hosted by the UK`s Medical Research Council and […]