HIV: Still Bad

My old pals at Kaiser Family Foundation and MTV have come up with a "guess who has HIV?" web game. Check it out.

People featured on the site are a mixed bag of colors, ethnicities, and HIV statuses. The obvious message is, "You never know who might have HIV. It could be the white guy working at Bear Sterns or the Latino guy driving the subway." Etc.

National Sex Threat Level ORANGE: Sexual activity causes STIs!

This is HPV. Are you terrified yet??

File this one under "OMFG, for real?!"
From CNN.com:

Study: 1 in 4 Teen Girls Has An STD

A choice tidbit:

The study by CDC researcher Dr. Sara Forhan is an analysis of nationally representative data on 838 girls who participated in a 2003-04 government health survey. Teens were tested for four infections: human papillomavirus, or HPV, which can cause cervical cancer and affected 18 percent of girls studied; chlamydia, which affected 4 percent; trichomoniasis, 2.5 percent; and herpes simplex virus, 2 percent.

One more time:

...nationally representative data on 838 girls...

As always, nationally representative data is nationally representative and we have to accept this research for good and bad; but come on, people--what this study actually means is that 25% of 838 girls (for the math-ally challenged, that's 209.5 girls) had an STD. They don't call them "sexually transmitted infections" for nothing. Obviously abstinence isn't hot right now.

I think it's time we stopped freaking out about STIs. With the exception of HIV, they are not deadly and most amount to a treatable, often curable infection that cause symptoms little worse than strep throat or the chicken pox save for the irrefutable evidence they provide that *Gasp!* young people are having sex.

Thanks to L, D, and everyone else who thoughtfully sent this my way.

Victoriana Alert: HPV Vaccine Causes Fainting!

I'm not making this up. From the Associated Press:

The groundbreaking vaccine that prevents cervical cancer in girls is gaining a reputation as the most painful of childhood shots, health experts say. As Austin Powers would say; "Ouch, baby. Very ouch."

And there's more:

During its first year of use, reports of girls fainting from vaccinations climbed, but it's not clear whether the pain of the cervical cancer vaccine was the reason for the reaction.

Doctors suggest the fainting may be due to "the needles," or -- wait for it -- "nervousness."

Fainting? Nervousness? Next thing we know women who get the Gardasil vaccine will be suffering from hysteria and nymphomania. Call the whambulance.

Q: My bike is giving me yeast infections! A: Ride your boyfriend instead

Dear Go-To Girl,

I am a cyclist and get frequent yeast infections, both internal and now external. This basically means I have a DIAPER RASH all over my butt, vagina, and inner thighs! My questions is that I REALLY want to have sex with my partner, so if the internal infection is subsiding, but the rash is in full flare, is it just stupid to have sex? I'm on cream and Diflucan, btw.

Love,

Abstinence is Killing Me

Dear Abstinence,

Wow. How unfortunate that God would punish you for being in such good shape. I moonlight as a Spinning instructor, so I know about the beating your Area can take when you bike a lot.

Yeast infections are caused by an overgrowth of yeast in the vagina which can be caused by a number of things but usually happens when there's been a change in the vaj's pH or you've worn, as I'm guessing in your case, the same pair of tight, super-sweaty bike shorts all day. The vagina is a delicate place and needs air to stay healthy.

While I am loath to ever recommend abstinence, sex under these conditions might make the irritation worse, so it's up to you to decide whether or not you can stand another couple of days of chastity. Fucking with a yeast infection won't kill you and it might, er, scratch your itch in a way that nothing else can.

If you do decide to go ahead and scratch your itch with your partner, make sure you use lots of lube and condoms. You don't want to add to the irritation by rubbing off more skin and semen is the very last thing you want to introduce into your vaj at this point. See this post for more on that.

Cringing and cross-legged,
Go-To Girl

Q: HPV? Moi? A: Oui.

Study: You Have HPV

Guess who was right about the HPV vaccine?

That's right, dear readers: ME. See the following Op-Ed in the Times. While there are cases in which the HPV vaccine makes sense this article clears up a lot of misunderstandings that have been fully exploited by Merck, the vaccine's manufacturer, which stands to make a $hit-ton of money if New York and other state governments mandate the vaccine (which costs a whopping $360 for the series of 3 shots) for all school-age children.
The fact is, treatment for cervical cancer is so available and so good that the disease burden does not necessitate such a hugely expensive vaccine. This is not avian flu, people. I will concede that the author of this article is a staffer at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, but they're smart people in spite of their opposition to stuff like heavy-handed government public health measures.
The reason the HPV vaccine doesn't need mandating isn't "because making such determinations rightly rests with families" (individuals and individual families routinely make the wrong determinations about all kinds of health issues) but because the cost of this vaccine and the as-yet unknown risks associated with it mean that, particularly until the cost goes down, it's just not necessary.

I am vindicated

To the valiant men with whom I played Boggle this weekend, I submit the following four (count them: four) entries from dictionary.com:
---
lude  [lood] –noun Slang.
Quaalude.
[Origin: 1975–80; by shortening]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.0.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
---
lude (ld) n. Slan.
A pill or tablet containing methaqualone.
[Short for Quaalude.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
---
lude (ld) n.
A pill or tablet that contains the drug methaqualone.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
---
Main Entry: lude
Pronunciation: 'lüd
Function: noun
: a pill of methaqualone —usually used in plural
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.

In conclusion, y'all can suck it.

Q: Blow job herpes? A: Yes

Dear Go-To Girl,
You're so great, I love you soooo much. Here's my question: is it possible to transmit oral herpes to genitals and vice versa?
Love,
Clark

Dear Clark,
The rumor is true: not only is it possible for oral herpes (Herpes Simplex 1) to be transmitted to the genitals, oral-to-genital transmission was shown to be the cause of 78% of all genital herpes infections.* Here's the rub: back in the old days, you know, when our parents were (not) having sex, people apparently didn't "go downtown" as much as we sluts do today. So Herpes Simplex 1 (oral) and Herpes Simplex 2 (genital) were relatively independent viruses. It should be noted that the viruses are not significantly different in their manifestation on the body, just that they happened to inhabit different regions. But since there's so much oral going on these days (and thank g-d for that) the viruses are getting completely crossed.
So what can you do? If you have a cold sore on your mouth, don't go around giving head to everyone you know. If you have a sore in your "area," well, keep it to yourself.

Love,
GTG



*Roberts, Craig M. PA-C, MS *; Pfister, John R. MS +; Spear, Scott J. MD, "Increasing Proportion of Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 as a Cause of Genital Herpes Infection in College Students." Sexually Transmitted Diseases. 30(10):797-800, October 2003.

Tell Someone! "Don't bother with the HPV vaccine"

HPV is incredibly common, sometimes it causes warts, sometimes it causes cancer, but mostly it causes nothing and goes away on its own. (see http://www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials/results/cervical-cancer-vaccine1102)

Chances are, unless you're a virgin, you've already been exposed to HPV. The big deal about the vaccine is that it does prevent the persistent infection of the body with the particular type of HPV that causes cervical cancer, which, they think, will actually prevent cancer. So that's why you've seen the commercials that say "A vaccine! For a virus! That causes Cancer!"

But here's the thing: the vaccine costs about $350, it does nothing to stop an already present HPV infection, and the vast majority of cervical cancer in this country is caught early by annual Pap smears. The places in the world where cervical cancer is a prevalent killer among women are resource-poor countries, and it's anybody's guess how they will be able to afford to spend $350 on a vaccine. And speaking of resource-poor, the following groups within the United States have the highest diagnostic rate of cervical cancer: "Black women in the South, women living along the Texas-Mexico border, white women in Appalachia, American Indians in the Northern Plains, Vietnamese-American women and Alaska Natives are among the U.S. women who are most likely to die of cervical cancer." (http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=31646) These are populations who also have disproportionately bad access to health care services (to say nothing of specialized women's health services like Paps).

So, here's what you need to know: approximately 4,000 women in the U.S. die of cervical cancer each year, and the majority of untreatable cases are found in women who have not had a Pap in at least 5 years. Almost all cases caught by annual Paps are highly treatable. And the vaccine probably won't help you if you've already had sex. And it only prevents one of the several strains of HPV that can cause cancer. So perhaps this vaccine will be added to the litany of shots given to little kids, but it will probably not cause a steep decline in cervical cancer. And it costs $350. Just get a Pap.

For More:
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=31646
http://www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials/results/cervical-cancer-vaccine1102
www.tell-someone.com (Merck's website for the vaccine)