The Better2Know Blog

From 1 April 2013, the NHS will no longer be responsible for sexual health screening (including Chlamydia, gonorrhoea and syphilis) testing and treatment of standard cases.  This responsibility is shifting to Local Authorities, although the NHS will be responsible for HIV testing and treatment.  This split of duties is likely to lead to confusion with the possibility that in some areas patients will have to go to two different places with different appointment times in order to get a full range of tests.

The amount of STIs in the UK is at an all-time high with almost half a million new cases in the last year alone.

For years the talk of male contraception has centered around women saying “I’d never trust him to take it”. The male “pill” is now a step closer.  An injection which stops sperm from being able to swim as far has been developed.

A woman has told a court of  when she told her previous sexual partner that he may have infected her with HIV.  It is alleged that Leslie Pringle  had unprotected sex often with the woman despite knowing he was HIV positive.  Pringle is on trial for Grevious Bodily Harm for deliberately infecting someone with the HIV virus.

A group of Researchers at the University of Colorado have found that a site aimed at teenagers encouraging safer sex has decreased their chances of catching an STD.

Apart from the obvious fun advantages of a sex toy, you may also think that at least it is the one “partner” that won’t cheat on you, won’t snore and never even touches the loo seat…. and they won’t give you an STD.  Right?  Well probably, but not always.  As long as your toy remains faithful to you and you clean it thoroughly after any infection then you should be safe.

However sharing a sex toy with your partner (or a friend) means that yes it can transfer an STI if not cleaned properly.  Experts recommend using a condom on it (which also helps with lube) as some of the toys are made of materials where bacteria and viruses can live.

They normally come with special cleaning fluid/ wipes and these are essential to use to prevent infection with a shared toy.  Toys made out of glass are more easily sterilised than those made out of plastic or rubber.

Toys which can draw blood (whips, needles, restraints) can pass many infections including STIs and so their use is to be regarded as high risk if you do not know who else has used them.

If you think your vibrator may have given you an STI, Better2Know can help get you a private STD test at any of our national clinics.

The British HIV Association (BHIVA), the body that represents HIV care professionals, said that patients with HIV are being denied longer life expectancies because they are being diagnosed too late: up to 1 in 4 people who test positive for HIV could have been diagnosed earlier.  GPs are missing the signs of HIV related illnesses in their patients who report ill health.

If I responded to this question with anything other than, of course I’d choose not to have genital herpes, you would think I’m lying. Not only would that response sound contrived, you’d stop reading and move along to a post that is actually realistic. However, I must warn you, there’s a huge BUT to my answer. You had to know that was coming, right? The deal is, if I could change only one thing about my past, genital herpes wouldn’t be my choice. If I could go back and change a couple things and take away my genital herpes, I’d do that too, because it’s a nuisance. However, I’d only take back having genital herpes if it didn’t erase all of the positive things that have come about as a result of having it. That is why I have to carefully answer a question like that, because answering requires a more detailed explanation than a simple yes or no affords.

Marie Stopes Northern Ireland has opened a world class sexual and reproductive health centre in Belfast, offering the people of Northern Ireland a wide range of family planning and sexual health services under one roof.

Carlisle in Cumbria has been named the most promiscuous city in Europe according to a new poll by a US dating website (seeking arrangement.com).  100% of those who took part in the survey claimed they had had 14 partners or more in the last year – more than one a month, and more than most men who took part in the survey had in their lifetime.

A 2010 study conducted by the Health Survey for England reported a mean national average of 9.3 sexual partners in a lifetime among the UK’s men, and the same study revealed that only 27 per cent of men nationwide had more than ten sexual partners in their lifetime.

The cities were:

1. Carlisle, UK

2. Prague, Czech Republic

3. Vienna, Austria

4. Mykonos, Greece

5. Barcelona, Spain

6. Amsterdam, The Netherlands

7. Monaco City, Monaco

8. Paris, France

9. Dublin, Ireland

10. Stockholm, Sweden

Most of the men in the survey said they had only had 3 to 4 partners each year, with an average of 9 across the EU.

Having multiple partners can be fun, but it is important to be responsible about your and their sexual health.  If you slept with 14 people in the last year, who have each slept with 13 other people – that’s over 200 people who you could have caught or transmitted something to (without taking into account how many people they have sexual intercourse with).   Better2Know recommends regular testing every 3 to 6 month is advised for this level of sexual activity.

Following our blog post last week on safer sex as people age, we have been joined by Councillor Maggie Mansell from Croydon (South of London) who is proposing to publish a leaflet aimed at those over 60 with an active sex life which would be distributed through pharmacies and GPs.

If you are worried that you might have HIV, the only way you can know is to have an HIV test.  Testing has moved on and it is now possible to have a test just ten says after any incident you are concerned about.

New research in Canada has been looking at the different methods of testing for Chlamydia and gonorrhoea in Men.

At Better2Know we are often asked about training to improve the knowledge of the health care teams we work with.  As well as our own internal training programmes, leaflets and manuals there are also several external courses that can earn you credit towards a recognised qualification (while we work on ours!).

The film “Hope Springs” breaks one of Hollywood’s taboos about older people having sex.  In the main, sex scenes involve bright young thing’s body doubles.  Age UK has even looked into this, the Charity’s Director General, Michelle Mitchell says: “Our research has shown that while advertisers and the media promote sexualised representations of younger people, sex and older age is widely viewed as a taboo subject…We found that many people are often reluctant to even acknowledge that sexuality in older age exists.”

Better2Know tests can test for herpes using three different methods.  Your Better2Know doctor will help you decide which one of these methods is the best for you.  All our tests differentiate between Herpes Type I (Herpes Simplex I – HSVI) and Herpes Type II (Herpes Simples II – HSVII).  Usually type I is found as cold sores around the mouth, and type II are cold sores around the genitals, but oral sex can mean that either type can be found in either place.

The number of gay men having an HIV test in Scotland has increased significantly.  The percentage of men who identified themselves as gay who have had an HIV test increased from 27% to 57% from 2000 to 2010.  This is encouraging alongside an increase in gay men who saw testing as “the community norm” which is an important change in attitude.

Untreated syphilis can cause a loss of hearing with a condition called “otosyphilis” which causes hearing loss but can be reversible.  If a patient tests positive for syphilis and has no other reason for lost hearing, then this condition can be considered, and has been studied by Dr Daniel Bradshaw at the University of New South Wales, Australia.

A new study by the Department of Health Behaviour in the United States has looked at whether condoms prevent non-viral STIs.  A non-viral STI includes: Chlamydia, gonorrhoea, syphilis,  ureaplasma and mycoplasma.

Earlier this year, an editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine declared that the world was in a “watershed moment” in the history of treatment for hepatitis C, a virus that is believed to infect roughly 180 million people globally. Dr. Warner Greene, director of the Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology in San Francisco, agrees wholeheartedly – and believes that with recent advances in treatments and a cure, the world could be on the cusp of nearly wiping out the virus.

Non specific Urethritis (NSU) is just that, “non-specific”. This means that you may:

Research published this month in the journal PLOS ONE shows that there are vast differences across the UK in school girls receiving the HPV Vaccine to protect them from Cervical Cancer and Genital Warts.

The National Vaccination programme is usually delivered by school nurses and some are excellent, getting very high rates of completion of the course of three vaccines, but others are facing problems.

Since 2008, all 12-13 year old girls should be offered the vaccine.  From this autumn, the vaccine has changed from Cervarix to Gardasil which offers greater protection against other non-cervical cancers and genital warts.   Around 80% of all girls have received the full course.

The study was led by Dr Tammy Boyce, from the Department of Medicine at Imperial College London who says that “There’s no question that the UK national HPV immunisation programme is one of the most successful in the world, but this research has highlighted thousands of young women who have either not been offered the vaccine, or where more could have been done to increase uptake… What’s more, there is a group of young women in certain social classes or who do not regularly attend school that could be vulnerable in terms of HPV risk.”

“More efforts could be made to vaccinate these vulnerable young women who have not yet received the vaccine. We mustn’t let overall vaccination rates mask the stark inequalities that do exist, and instead take action to identify and reach those that drop off the school system and are most in need of protection.”

Better2Know offers the gardasil vaccine to boys as well as girls – of  any age!  At many of its private clinics across the UK.  If you or your son or daughter is sexually active then you should consider the HPV vaccine.

Out of thousands of applications, the Hepatitis C Trust were one of 52 charities that were chosen this year. They are all thrilled at the opportunity – the team at the Trust have put so much work into the campaign with initial conversations taking place with the BBC back in December 2011.

In 2011, I worked in a remote part of Tanzania for six months in a hospital where HIV/ AIDS was a major issue.

This year FPA and Brook are working together. They are launching  the campaign XES – We Can’t Go Backwards because we know that across the UK there are areas where:

The latest figures published by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) show that the new number of people with gonorrhoea in 2011 was 21,000 in the UK , up from 17,000 in 2010.  Most of the new cases were in young people aged 25 or under.

No surprises that people in their 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s are having sex with new partners.

Some people are coming out of relationships and dating again. Some have always been single. And many over 50s are enjoying fantastic sex and finding new love at this point in their lives.

The problem is that lots of people over 50, single or dating, don’t think safer sex applies to them. If you’re coming out of a long-term relationship it may not be something you’ve had to think about for years. And, after the menopause, using condoms can be easily forgotten about. Result? STIs are making a comeback in a new generation.

STIs don’t care about greying hair or a few wrinkles. If you’re having unprotected sex, an STI will find you just as attractive whatever your age.

Better2Know’s oldest patient this year was in their 80s and enjoying their life responsibly!

A new study has found that those couples who delay having sex stay together for longer and are happier.

A new study by Dartmouth College, an Ivy League University in the USA, has found that letting your children watch films with a high sexual content means that they start to have sex earlier and have more partners. The study found this was linked to increased promiscuity and not using condoms. Over 1,200 teenagers were asked to respond to questions when they were aged 12 to 14 and then this was repeated six years later. The study concentrates on cinema and films, but some argue this could also apply to on line pornography.

If you have sexual intercourse with someone who is HIV+ it doesn’t automatically mean that you will become HIV+. The risk decreases if you wear a condom quite significantly, but there are factors that can increase the risk of transmission, and one of them is having another STI, or HPV.