Condoms and lubricant

Condoms and lubricant features

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  Uncomfortable news on lubes for anal sex

  Commercially available sexual lubricants may increase people’s susceptibility to sexually transmitted infection (STIs), US scientists reported recently. A study found that people who consistently used shop-bought ‘lubes’ for...

  From:  HIV treatment update

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  Where next for HIV prevention?

  Gus Cairns finds that UK HIV prevention campaigners and researchers are all in agreement that something has to change. They’re not so certain about where we go...

  From:  HIV treatment update

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  Safer sex in the treatment era

  There is mounting evidence that reducing viral load through HIV treatment may be one of the most effective ways of stopping onward transmission of HIV. But how...

  From:  HIV treatment update

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  Are lubricants safe?

  The ‘lubes’ used most often in sex may actually make HIV transmission more likely. Gus Cairns explores some unnerving new findings from the 2010 International Microbicides Conference. ...

  From:  HIV treatment update

Condoms and lubricant in your own words

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  Bored and horny

  It’s Sunday afternoon and it’s raining. I’m bored and horny. However, I’ve got £20 left over from the night before and this will be enough...

  From:In your own words

Condoms and lubricant news from aidsmap

• Consistent condom use in anal sex stops 70% of HIV infections, study finds, but intermittent use has no effect

  An analysis by Dawn Smith of the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported at the 20th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2013) on 4 March has provided the first estimate of the efficacy of condoms ...

  04 March 2013 | Gus Cairns

• Condoms used in one-in-four heterosexual encounters in the US

  A quarter of heterosexual adults in the United States used a condom the last time they had vaginal sex, researchers from Indiana University have found. Respondents generally reported that condom use made no difference to sexual pleasure, to orgasm, or to ...

  17 February 2013 | Gus Cairns

• UK experts: successful treatment is "as effective as consistent condom use" in reducing HIV transmission

  The British HIV Association (BHIVA) and the Department of Health’s Expert Advisory Group on AIDS (EAGA) published this week a position statement on the use of HIV treatment by people with HIV to reduce the risk of transmission. For ...

  23 January 2013 | Roger Pebody

• Young people know less about HIV and are less trustful of condoms, French survey finds

  The first survey for six years of attitudes to HIV and sexual risk behaviour among the general public in France has found that young people are less frightened of AIDS than they used to be, are more likely to ...

  10 January 2013 | Gus Cairns

• Unprotected sex reported by the majority of sexually active adolescents infected with HIV since birth

  Close to two-thirds of sexually active adolescents infected with HIV at birth have had unprotected sex, US investigators report in the online edition of Clinical Infectious Diseases. Many of those initiating sexual activity had a high viral load ...

  21 November 2012 | Michael Carter

• Some sexual lubricants damage cells – but may not increase HIV risk

  An evaluation of 13 sexual lubricants has found that, while many are toxic to the cells that line the vagina and rectum, this does not lead to an increased rate of HIV infection – at least in test-tube experiments. ...

  09 November 2012 | Gus Cairns

• Consistent and correct condom use reduces risk of bacterial STIs by 60%

  Consistent and correct condom use provides a high level of protection against bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STIs), US investigators report in Sexually Transmitted Infections. Individuals who always used condoms correctly were almost 60% less likely to be diagnosed with an ...

  26 September 2012 | Michael Carter

• Douching does not seem to increase STI risk

  Neither rectal douching nor vaginal washing appears to be as significantly associated with sexually transmitted infections or other microbial conditions that increase the risk of HIV, as had been feared, the International Microbicides Conference heard yesterday. In the case of ...

  18 April 2012 | Gus Cairns

• Serosorting does help prevent HIV – up to a point

  A meta-analysis of HIV-negative gay men’s sexual behaviour and HIV incidence rate in four HIV prevention studies, presented earlier this month at the 19th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI), has found that attempting to ‘serosort’ by restricting unprotected ...

  19 March 2012 | Gus Cairns

• The safety spectrum: gay men use many ways to moderate their sexual risk

  The vast majority of gay men, HIV-positive and negative, make some effort to moderate their risk of transmitting or acquiring HIV, a large Australian study finds. Dr Limin Mao of the University of New South Wales in Australia, speaking at the ...

  18 September 2011 | Gus Cairns

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Condoms and lubricant news selected from other sources

• Reinventing The Condom - modernizing a life-saving tool

  We have a product that is safe and effective, but underutilized. What if we could develop a condom that would provide all the benefit of our current versions, without the drawbacks? Even better, what if we could develop one that was preferred to no condom?

  2 hours ago | Impatient Optimists

• Pope Francis' View on Contraception Could Impact AIDS Work

  Catholic organizations around the world are still digesting how the selection of Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina, now Pope Francis , might impact their work, and that includes disease-prevention efforts.

  15 March 2013 | ABC News

• Putting the Nail in the Coffin of Condom-Only HIV Prevention

  Dearly beloved, we gather here to say our goodbyes. For over thirty years, condoms have been our only lifesavers in the face of HIV. But as if we needed any additional evidence of the need to turn the page, it came in the form of a seemingly banal conference presentation this week in Atlanta at the 20th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections.

  08 March 2013 | Frontiers LA

• Analysis: Condoms continue to confound Uganda

  The condom has played a central role in Uganda's official HIV prevention strategy for over two decades, but the country has yet to get it right, with condom use declining and the government unable to meet what demand does exist.

  01 March 2013 | IRIN PlusNews

• Gays can't have sex

  'Gays can’t have sex. We can have only “safer sex” or “protected sex” (where condoms or any other form of barriers are used). The sad part of “protected sex” is that it implies that sex between men is not safe,...' - psychotherapiast Marco Posadas ponders whether 'safer sex' is having a damaging effect on gay men's self-image.

  22 February 2013 | Xtra!

• Lack of “lube” hurts HIV prevention

  Safer-sex messaging on condoms is universal; but the generally poor availability and awareness around lubricants is hindering HIV prevention, health activists warn.

  21 February 2013 | IRIN Plus News

• Saving Safe Sex: An Interview With Richard Berkowitz

  The writer of the first safer sex manifesto for gay men talks about PrEP, gay culture and the profile documentary Sex Positive.

  19 February 2013 | Huffington Post (blog)

• Fall in condom use behind HIV rise

  A fall in the proportion of gay and bisexual men using condoms is behind the rise in HIV infections in those groups in the UK, say researchers.

  18 February 2013 | BBC Health

• IRMA Issues Global Call to Action: We Demand Answers on Lubricant Safety

  More than 30 years into the HIV pandemic, we don’t know whether sexual lubricants increase, decrease or have no impact on the risk of acquiring HIV and other STIs. This is unacceptable. We demand answers on lubricant safety. We demand a Lubricant Safety Research Agenda.

  15 February 2013 | International Rectal Microbicide Advocates (IRMA)

• The blame game that is taking Uganda back to ABC

  President Museveni has continuously blamed increasing HIV prevalence in Uganda on non-governmental organisations’ promotion of condom use, sex work and circumcision. “There are so many conflicting messages” observes Mr. Museveni.

  06 February 2013 | Key Correspondents

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