Drinking and STDs...

The owner of this wine and liquor store must surely have a sense of humour, right?

I guess this means that the link between excessive drinking and STDs is no longer anecdotal, is it?

The photo came courtesy of The Huffington Post this time (I have seen it before as it has done the rounds of the internet and email inboxes).

The Pope Sees the Light...

Pope Benedict XVI has seen the light at the end of the tunnel, and it is not Jesus. The Pope, God bless his soul, has finally worked out that abstinence, although the best solution, is not a reality that the Catholic Church can make happen. Well, not unless they start forcibly restraining unmarried or un-partnered couples.

Condoms, particularly the use of them, are not a 100% effective way of preventing the spread of STD or STI. However, they do significantly better than the option of taking a shower without a raincoat. In any event, the Pope's support is not blanket support for the idea that the Catholic Church facilitate a program of condom distribution through its parishes.

The Pope's support suggests that prostitutes, and in particular male prostitutes,would be beginning to act responsibly if they were to start using condoms. I might have to go out and get the book from which the Pope's comments are sourced: Light of the World: The Pope, the Church and the Signs of the Times. And, the news story that I pilfered for this piece was quoting from excerpts that were published in The Vatican rag, L’Osservatore Romano.

The Catholic Church has adopted a position that is anti-condom use. It has maintained this position in the face of some intense and harsh criticism. So, is this statement by the Pope indicative of a softening in the position of the Catholic Church? No, it is not. The Pope was very explicit in restricting his comments to a very narrow range of condom use. His choice of male prostitutes was undoubtedly a conscious one that was sort to deflect any concerns about condoms being used as a contraceptive device. The position of the Catholic Church with respect to the use of condoms as a form of contraception remains unchanged.

Yet, when it is all said and done, there is an argument to be made that this may in fact be a first step in recognising that the issue of HIV / AIDS and other sexually transmitted disease and infection is an issue that transcends simple arguments of morality. It is an issue that has and will continue to be a measure of the times in which we live, particularly if you live in Africa or Asia.

Progress is progress even if it is in small and scripted steps.

Mobile Phones and the STD Test Application...

After the Ugly Meter which seems to be nothing more than a little frivolity there is the possibility that scientists will hit the STD test jackpot so to speak. It is being reported that in the not too distant future STD testing can be done at home or with the help of your trusty mobile phone. The test will be as simple as providing a little urine sample on a computer chip and placing it into your phone and waiting for the phone to spit out the results.

Not all experts are of the belief that this technology is imminent in the consumer-ready sense. However, it seems that it is not something that is outside the realm of possibility. The experts have developed simple test kits for HIV. So, the future is nigh, so to speak.

However, the technology raises some interesting nocturnal entertainment possibilities, don't you think? Going out on the turps on a Friday and Saturday night and entering the one-night stand lottery need not result in a recurring case of STD. The reality will be that right next to the condoms in the wallet or purse will be the STD computer chips. It would be pretty funny to be a fly on the wall for that conversation. "So, I am really looking forward to getting down and dirty with you, but before we do would you mind if I watched you pee on this computer chip?" Sort of crushes the moment, doesn't it?

Nevertheless, the old adage of "it is better to be safe than sorry" might make it cheaper in the long run. All the same, I am wondering what happens when the mobile phone pipes up..."Warning, Warning, Warning, don't do it, Chlamydia!" or "Warning, Warning, Warning, do not go there...Gonorrhea!"

It is a good idea. Anything that keeps our young, and perhaps old, people healthy is a worthwhile cause. Yet, it is still one of those things that you find yourself shaking your head at, like will it still work once the beer goggles are on?

Toys for Children -- Stuffed STDs

It is mid-September and getting close to Christmas. We have been planning to get away and go up the New South Wales north coast for a week or so just after Christmas. This obviously gets one to thinking about buying gifts in preparation for the big day where the fat fella in a red suit comes down the chimney and leaves a bag full of goodies for the kid.

Anyways, the best place to get ideas for gifts I reckon is the internet. So, online I went.

The above is what I found. It was one of those moments where one shakes their head, smiles, and then thinks, "I wonder who bought one or all of those?"

You can see the water cooler conversation now, can't you?

John: Hey Bill, what did you get your kid for Christmas?

Bill: I gave him chlamydia and the pox! What about yourself? What did you give yours?

John: Funnily enough, I gave my kid the clap and herpes.

There is something that does not sit right with the idea of making stuffed toys to represent sexually transmitted diseases or infections (STD / STI) and then giving them to children.

Imagine your kid takes one of these stuffed toys to school:

Teacher: Johnny, what did you get for your birthday?

Little Johnny: Miss, my parents gave me the clap!

Teacher: Oh, OK, how do you like it?

Sexually Transmitted Infections -- Annual Surveillance Report

Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) are on the rise in Australia. The rise is currently being attributed to increased levels of risky sexual behaviour, and primarily this is unprotected sex. This is a scary thought. This post sort of follows on from the previous posts I wrote about the AIDS is a mass murderer campaign that has been launched in Germany.

The Annual Surveillance Report for 2009 can be downloaded from here. In fact, all the Surveillance Reports from 1997 can be accessed from this site as well. If one has an interest in the subject matter, then they are clearly worthwhile reading.

The report tells us a lot of things, but some of the figures highlight that rates of chlamydia infections increased by 10% over the previous year, infectious syphilis has reached epidemic proportions amongst gay men, and there were nearly 1000 new cases of HIV. The HIV cases at almost 1000 would not seem to be a large number, but it is still way too many. These figures suggest that the message has stopped getting through or people have become a whole lot more complacent about getting HIV. Complacency kills!

The data also shows that our indigenous brothers and sisters are coming into contact with STIs in increasingly large numbers. The data also highlights that intravenous drug users and homosexual men are afflicted in increasing numbers with HIV / AIDS, syphilis, and hepatitis. The chlamydia numbers are even more alarming as the show an increased in diagnosis from 14,082 in 1999 to 58,456 in 2008.

In another survey by Marie Stopes International of Australian school students found some interesting figures, including that just under half of the students surveyed had experienced oral sex. Even more interesting was that the majority of those did not consider oral sex to be sex. Sounds like a Bill Clinton moment to me, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman!" Which is true if one does not consider oral sex to climax and a subsequent spray of seminal fluid onto a dress, sex.

In another study conducted by the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health, and Society at La Trobe University, and also of Australian school students, found that one in four Year 10 students admitted to sexual intercourse and one in two students admitted as much by the time they were in year 12. I don't think it was this many when I was in high school. But, then again we were not conducting surveys of our friends either.

What does this tell us? It tells us that there is still a need for the safe sex message. The sooner 'we' refocus that message the sooner we can begin the work of protecting those who are not infected and begin devoting more time, money, and energy to finding cures.