A remarkably good turn-out given it was the morning after the night before! I won’t dwell on the gala dinner at Manchester Cathedral, although I should say how absolutely beautiful the cathedral looked, with a sea of candles illuminating the gothic structure and its vaulted ceiling. I must admit though, that it was slightly surreal […]
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BASHH/BHIVA conference – Thursday
For those of you who think that attending a conference is an excuse to ‘skive’, I’ll have you know that I dutifully got up in time to attend the 8 a.m. Medical Research council meeting discussing the PIVOT (protease monotherapy) trial. However, I declined the champagne with the breakfast. As discussed in yesterdays blog, this […]
BHIVA/BASHH Conference Highlights
After a series of satellite symposia, the programme started today with Steve Taylor’s “Top Ten” papers of the past year. As Steve acknowledged, a talk like this is something of a poisoned chalice, with the opportunity to alienate friends and enemies alike. He cheated a bit, choosing a number of major topics and sneaking a […]
BHIVA/BASHH conference – Tuesday 20th April
Overshadowed by volcanic ash – above the surprisingly bright and cloudless sky of Manchester – the BHIVA/BASHH conference started well if disjointedly, with absent international speakers. Rosella Nappi joined us from Naples to talk about sexual desire disorders in women, like a voice in a Victorian séance, but others were altogether absent. Tom Quinn was […]
Are the new Standards for Managing STIs a good thing?
This month`s journal sees a stirring editorial by Dr. Celia Skinner (1) in support of the new UK standards for the management of Sexually Transmitted Infections ( 2), published by the medical sexual health charity “MedFASH” in collaboration with all the major players in the field. Many would see such a document as being rather […]
Time to improve HIV testing and recording of HIV diagnosis in UK primary care – a response
Please see letter below from Surinder Singh in response to the article Richard Ma Time to improve HIV testing and recording of HIV diagnosis in UK primary care Sex Transm Infect 2009; 85: 486 http://sti.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/85/7/486 Richard Ma makes some excellent points in his editorial (1). I would like to ‘correct’ a misperception but add to […]
Chlamydia screening at the crossroads
As financial screws tighten, and a general election approaches, British clinical readers are expecting lean times ahead. Services for sexually transmitted infections (STI) are unlikely to get major billing in party manifestoes, and political support tends to be driven by committed individuals rather than public demand. These are particularly interesting times for England’s National Chlamydia […]