Mates condoms Durex pleasuremax Vibrating condom Ribbed condoms - Econdoms

Scientists say they have found out more about how prostate cancer manages to spread away from the gland to the rest of the body.

Prostate cancer which is confined to the gland is unlikely to kill the patient.

It is only when cancer cells break out into nearby blood vessels and are carried elsewhere in the body that the disease becomes far more serious.

The prostate gland is found in men close to the bladder, and makes a component of semen.

It is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers, and kills thousands of men every year in the UK.

Some prostate cancers never spread and cause problems for the patient - while some are highly aggressive and spread quickly to other sites around the body.

However, scientists still do not understand what differences hold the key to this. Scientists at the University of Michigan in the US believe they have found a gene which plays a crucial role in determining whether a cancer stays put or "metastasises" - spreads outside the original tumour.

The gene produces a protein called RKIP, which appears to hold back the spread of cells into nearby blood vessels.

When a tumour produces a normal amount of RKIP, they discovered, it cannot make this jump.

However, in tumours lacking RKIP or only making tiny amounts, metastasis takes place.

Surgery hope

The finding could help doctors determine which prostate tumours are likely to spread fast and need aggressive treatment - and which are less likely to spread, and can be treated more conservatively.

Often, this could mean the difference between radical surgery to remove the prostate gland - an operation which could affect bladder control and sexual function - or a "wait and see" policy.

If RKIP does turn out to be the key to prostate cancer spread, it is possible that tumours could one day be treated to change their genetic makeup - and reduce the chance of spread.

However, Dr Evan Keller, who led the study, said that cells entering the bloodstream was not the only factor which decided whether the disease spread.

He said: "Many cancer cells enter the blood stream and don't go on to form successful metastases."

BBC News

Anal sex could be a major cause of the HIV/Aids epidemic in Africa, according to new research. A study published in The Journal of Sexually Transmitted Diseases and Aids claims awareness of the risks posed by anal sex is ignored in many of the continent's health campaigns.

However, HIV experts reject the findings, maintaining that vaginal sex is the main route of transmission for the Aids virus.

The study by researchers at the University of Tuebingen in Germany proposes that anal sex, both heterosexual and homosexual, is the second biggest cause of HIV transmission in Africa, following transmission in medical settings, such as through dirty needles.

The researchers believe vaginal transmission of HIV is a distant third.

They say there is a presumption that anal sex simply does not happen in Africa and many educational programmes have therefore neglected to cover what they call an "embarrassing topic".

Same sex

The report's author Dr Stuart Brody, of the Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioural Neurobiology, said people in Africa needed to be told that anal sex posed a greater risk of transmitting the Aids virus.

"It's quite clear that people in Africa, like people in other parts of the world do engage in anal intercourse and it is reasonably wide spread and therefore has serious health implications," he said.

"The combination of serious illegality and taboo makes it something that it is not likely to generate correct answers when researchers ask and is not likely to be the subject of public health interventions." Dr Brody admitted some figures from the research, such as interviews with street children in Tanzania, were not representative of the whole population.

But he said the research showed that Africans were less different in sexual behaviour than had been presumed.

Vaginal route

But BBC health reporter Ania Lichtarowicz says many doctors dispute the findings, and say the risks of anal sex are generally understood in Africa.

They say that some of the research included in this latest study looked at specific groups of people - for instance prostitutes or street boys - which were not representative of the entire continent.

Vaginal sex, they emphasise, remains the principal route of HIV transmission in Africa.

According to UNAids, an estimated 30m people in sub-Saharan Africa have HIV - 58% of these are women.

Most experts believe that sexual contact is responsible for 90% of HIV transmissions in Africa.

BBC News

A report by the House of Commons Health Committee has revealed dramatic rises in cases of sexually transmitted diseases. Here is a guide to the most common infections.

Chlamydia
How common? Chlamydia is the most common bacterial sexually transmitted infection in the UK. Between 1996 and 2001, the number of annual diagnoses increased by 108 per cent, reaching 67,000 cases in 2001.

Symptoms: Up to 70 percent of women and 50 per cent of men infected with chlamydia have no symptoms. Women aged between 16 and 24 and men aged 20-34 are at the greatest risk.

Where symptoms are present in women they may be non-specific, such as cystitis, change in vaginal discharge and mild lower abdominal pain. If untreated the infection can lead to pelvic pain, pain during sex and occasionally bleeding between periods. It can spread to the womb and Fallopian tubes and cause pelvic inflammatory disease, which may result in infertility, ectopic pregnancy and miscarriage.

Symptoms in men include discharge from the penis and burning when passing urine.

Treatment: In its early stages chlamydia is easily treated with antibiotics but the complications of long-term infection can be more difficult to deal with. Early diagnosis and treatment reduces the risk of complications, so regular testing is advisable for those at risk. It is important that any sexual partners are also tested and receive treatment.

Gonorrhoea
How common? Gonorrhoea is a bacterial infection, similar in its symptoms and effects to chlamydia. Although it is less common than chlamydia, the number of cases increased by 86 per cent from 1996, reaching 22,118 in 2001.

Symptoms: In men, gonorrhoea can cause pain on urination and a penile discharge. Most women have no symptoms, but the infection may spread to the Fallopian tubes, which may result in scarring, ectopic pregnancy and infertility.

Anal gonorrhoea is more common among homosexual men and can lead to painful bowel movements, itching and discharge.

Treatment: Antibiotic treatment generally leads to a complete cure. However, a recent report published in the Lancet found that almost one in ten cases of gonorrhoea in England and Wales was now resistant to ciprofloxacin, the antibiotic commonly used to treat the disease. This was a threefold increase since last year.

Syphilis
How common: Syphilis plagued the 19th century and claimed many famous victims. It was thought that the disease had almost been eradicated in this country but the Health Committee's report showed a 500 per cent increase in the last six years and 696 cases in 2001.

Symptoms: A painless sore, usually on or near the vagina or penis, but sometimes in the mouth or anus, is the first sign of syphilis. This is followed, four to eight weeks after infection, by a rash on the body and flu-like symptoms. If left untreated the disease can result in heart problems, lesions of the skin and bone, dementia and even death.

Treatment: Can be treated using antibiotics, but long-term follow up is essential to ensure that the infection has cleared.

Genital warts
How common? Genital warts, caused by the human papilloma virus (or wart virus), are one of the most common sexually transmitted infections seen in clinics and the number of cases has risen by 14 per cent in the period between 1996 and 2001.

Symptoms: Warts can develop a year or more after infection with the virus. The warts, small lumps with an irregular surface, are found on the genitals, anus or in the mouth; they may not always be visible if they occur inside the vagina or on the cervix. Although genital warts rarely lead to complications, a rare strain of the virus is associated with cancer of the cervix.

Treatment: Application of special ointments or paints, freezing or surgical removal under local anaesthetic.

Genital herpes
How common? The herpes simplex virus, the usual cause of cold sores, also causes genital herpes. There were 17,050 diagnosed first attacks in 2001, a 12 per cent increase since 1996.

Symptoms: Within a week of sexual contact with an infected person, a painful rash, which soon blisters, appears on or near the genitals. There is a risk of infection from the first sign of a rash until the blisters have completely disappeared. During the infectious period, the sufferer usually feels feverish, unwell and exhausted. Lymph glands in the groin enlarge and become sore.

Treatment: Herpes is a life-long chronic infection for which there is no cure, although most people will suffer only one or two attacks. Antiviral drugs can decrease the severity and likelihood of recurrent attacks.

Aids
How common? Aids was recognised as a new condition in 1981. Since then around 40 million people worldwide have been infected with HIV, the virus that may lead to Aids. The number of new diagnoses in the UK is increasing. In 2002 there are estimated to have been 6,500 new diagnoses, the highest number of new diagnoses in a single year.

Symptoms: People suffering from HIV may have no symptoms until late in the course of the illness. On average it takes between seven and nine years for symptoms to develop.

However, some people experience symptoms in the first couple of months after becoming infected. These include high temperature and fever, skin rash, muscle pains and nausea.

Once someone becomes ill with HIV, they are open to many infections which can include: infections of the mouth, such as thrush; unusual types of pneumonia; tuberculosis (TB); infections of the brain and eyes; unusual skin problems; and odd infections of the gastrointestinal tract. Most people with severe HIV infection also experience weight loss, enlargement of their lymph glands and persistent diarrhoea.

Treatment: Developments in treatment since the mid-Nineties have improved dramatically the life expectancy for those diagnosed with HIV in the UK.

Hatty Oliver, The Times June 11, 2003

CHILDREN as young as 10 are being shown how to use condoms as part of sex education lessons in primary schools.

The lessons, run by Southeast Sheffield Education Action Zone, include a demonstration using a plastic phallus of how to fit a condom.

The scheme has caused anger among family campaigners who believe the children — year 6 primary pupils — are too young to learn about contraception.

“Telling them about reproduction is one thing,” said Robert Whelan, director of Family and Youth Concern. “But demonstrating on condoms is just gross at that age. Children should be protected from this sort of thing.”

But organisers of the scheme, run as part of a government drive to cut teenage pregnancies, hope it will encourage boys to use condoms from an early age.

“I do the demo and then I tell them about the drop-in clinics available to them from the age of 11 where they can get supplies and advice,” said Charlotte Hall, who runs the programme in primary schools in Sheffield.

“At the end of the class, the boys have another look and touch but I make sure they don’t run off with any.”

While reproduction is taught in science lessons as part of the national curriculum in primary schools, parents can decide whether their children attend the additional “sex and relationships education programme”.

Other classes in the programme include lessons for years 5 and 6 on “sexuality” which ask children to “consider how different people might express their sexuality”.

Last year the government backed plans for free condoms and contraceptive pills to be made available in England’s secondary schools, in a campaign to halve the number of teenage pregnancies by 2010. Further criticism of sex education classes is expected this week when the Christian Institute publishes a report that has uncovered evidence of teacher-led discussions on sadomasochism, a “naughty bits bingo” game and classroom role plays of “a married man who was ‘done’ for cottaging”.

Another book, used by several thousand primary schools according to the publisher Healthwise, includes material where children are taught the meaning of words and phrases including anal intercourse and masturbation, as well as explaining homosexual relationships.

“This material is totally debased,” said Mike Judge, of the Christian Institute. “It encourages the most unhealthy forms of sexual activity which are most likely to lead to sexually transmitted diseases.”

Simon Blake, of the National Children’s Bureau, said the books were used only as a guide by teachers. “Schools are working with parents, carers and pupils to make sure that sex education is relevant,” he said.

“It is not about how far you go but the context it is done in and that you make sure children are not left worried and frightened.”

Rachel Dobson The Times June 08, 2003

Norwegian cabbies are handing out condoms in a government-sponsored safe sex campaign.

Taxi driver Karl Erik Roland, who works in Trondheim, says discretion is the key to handing out the free contraceptives.

He told Adresseavisen newspaper: "We don't offer these to everyone. Most of them go to young people out on the town at night."

Mr Roland, a Swede who has been driving in Trondheim for two years, said: "I had a 16-year-old with his mother.

"It was obvious he wanted some free condoms, but didn't want to mention it with his mother around. He managed to sneak a hint anyway."

The taxi firm's manager, Geir Lerdahl, says it's up to the driver to gauge whether to offer the contraceptives.

He said: "The driver has to find the right passengers. You don't ask an elderly lady over 80 if she wants a four-pack.

"I have also told the drivers not to push the condoms, really the passenger should ask for them."

Ananova.com

A supplement marketed at middle-aged men as a way to boost testosterone levels may not work - and could even cause harm. Officials at the UK's Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency say that it cannot be sold legally in the UK - but it is simple to find the supplement on sale on the internet.

Androstenedione was tested by experts at the University of Texas at Arlington, who gave it to volunteers for four weeks.

They found that, at the end of that period, there was no discernable change in the hormone testosterone itself - and no changes in body fat levels, resting heart rate, blood pressure, even though advertising for the product occasionally claims that it can benefit these.

Body balance

Doctors, however, are concerned that long-term supplementation raises the risk of shifting the delicate balance of the body's hormones and causing as-yet unknown health problems.

The theory behind the supplement is that men experience symptoms in middle age which may be due to a drop in the level of the hormone testosterone.

The existence of this "male menopause" is by no means certain, although many men report symptoms such as fatigue, irritability, weight gain and loss of libido have all been attributed to a hormonal shift during this period.

Some doctors recommend injections of the testosterone to reverse these effects.

Ingredient

However, androstenedione is a substance that is a "precursor" to testosterone - meaning the body can turn it into testosterone.

This is why the supplement has been marketed as a possible treatment for symptoms of the "andropause".

The latest study, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, adds to other evidence suggesting that this supplement, and others like it, may have little benefit, say its authors.

No sales

A spokesman for the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), formerly the Medicines Control Agency, confirmed that products containing androstenedione could not be legally sold in the UK.

This is because the agency has ruled that the chemical should be regarded as a medicine rather than a health supplement, meaning it requires a licence from the MHRA.

No such restrictions have been placed on the supplement in the US, where it is favoured by bodybuilders as well as marketed at middle-aged men.

BBC News

An Australian woman has successfully sued two doctors after they failed to tell her that her husband was HIV positive.

The New South Wales state supreme court awarded the woman, who has now contracted the disease, A$727,000 damages.

The court backed the 28-year-old's claim that doctors should not have assumed her partner would tell her about his positive test.

The Australian Medical Association is examining the ruling amid concerns that it could have major implications for patient confidentiality.

Joint tests

The woman, known only as "PD", and her then fiance, known only as "FH", underwent tests for sexually transmitted infections and HIV in November 1998.

All her tests were negative but her fiance tested positive for HIV.

The couple were not told each others' results and they subsequently married and had unprotected sex.

The woman told the court she believed both tests were negative. She said Sydney doctors Nicholas Harvey and King Weng Chen should have warned her of her husband-to-be's condition.

Judge Jerrold Cripps ruled the two doctors should have warned the woman's fiance he would be breaking the law if he did not tell her he had HIV.

"Had FH been asked whether he proposed to tell his future wife of his condition and been reminded at that time if he had sexual intercourse with her without telling her of it he was committing an offence he would, I infer, have said he would tell her," he said.

Outside the court, the woman's lawyer David Hirsch said his client was happy with the judge's decision and relieved the case was over.

"Of course, she has indicated that no amount of money is going to replace what she has lost but she feels the judgement had vindicated her and she's pleased she had the nerve to take on the medical profession in a case like this," he said.

The Australian Medical Association said its legal experts were examining the implications of the case.

BBC News

Germany has demanded a rethink on EU guidelines on condom size after finding its average penis did not measure up.

Doctors around Essen were ordered by the government's health department to check out the average size suggested by Brussels.

They reported the EU has overestimated the size of the average penis by almost 20% and insist other countries will discover the same.

Urologist Gunther Hagler, head of the team compiling the research, said: "By checking hundreds of patients we found German penises were too small for standard EU condoms.

"On average they were 14.48 cms long and 3.95 cms wide. That makes them much smaller than the EU standard condom size of 17 cms in length and 5.6 cms in width."

He denied the German man was any smaller than the rest of Europe, adding: "We think the EU has got its sums wrong, and if other countries were to check out their men's assets they would find the EU has made a mistake in its calculations.

"There should be a rethink and the EU statisticians should check their figures again. After all, they have also ruled EU standard condoms should be able to hold 18 litres of fluid without breaking, which also seems a bit excessive."

Ananova.com

Almost one in ten cases of gonorrhoea in England and Wales has developed resistance to a key antibiotic used to treat it, says a report. The study, carried out in genitourinary clinics in both countries, found that the rate of resistance had more than tripled since last year.

The authors say the antibiotic is no longer effective, and that a new strategy needs to be found urgently.

Gonorrhoea is the second most common sexually-transmitted bacterial infection in the UK.

It causes a painful and unpleasant infection - and in extreme cases can even prove fatal if left untreated.

In addition, the bacteria which cause it, Neisseria gonorrhoeae , can damage fertility in women.

Unlike viral sexually transmitted infections such as HIV or herpes, doctors can prescribe antibiotics which should clear it up quickly.

But experts are becoming increasingly worried about the effectiveness of the best-known of these, ciprofloxacin, since strains of gonorrhoea resistant to it started to emerge in Asia.

Fast rise

An initiative set up to measure the prevalence of resistant strains found that in 2000, only one in 50 strains had this ability.

In 2001, this had increased to 3.1% - but the latest figures, published in the Lancet medical journal, show that the figure has risen to 9.8%.

In some areas things were worse - in the Yorkshire and Humberside area, more than 18% of strains isolated had resistant qualities.

The situation is not as bad as in China and Hong Kong - where 98% of strains have resistance to common antibiotics - but the researchers are alarmed by the finding.

They wrote: "It is a general principle with gonorrhoea that the chosen treatment should eliminate infection in at least 95% of patients, and ciprofloxacin no longer meets this criterion.

"The data suggest that national and local treatment guidelines need to be reviewed urgently."

Surveillance

Dr David Hawkins, from the genitourinary clinic at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London, said that while the figure was alarming, there were still plenty of other antimicrobial drugs that could deal with the infection.

He said: "Most clinics including our own have already modified their practices as a result of this. "We are fortunate to have identified this early thanks to a good surveillance system."

The number of people catching gonorrhoea in England and Wales is also on the rise, with the number of diagnoses doubling to more than 20,000 between 1995 and 2000.

The rises are highest among older teenagers.

The government published a sexual health strategy in 2001 which aimed for a 25% fall in gonorrhoea cases by 2007.

Misuse of antibiotics has been blamed for the rise in the number of strains of common bugs which have resistance.

A Department of Health, which funded the study, said: "Action is already in hand to alert clinicians to the findings from this study and to alternative drug regimens pending the current review of the national treatment guideline."

He said the department was working with the Health Protection Agency and professional groups to disseminate the information.

Information is also available on the Medical Society for the Study of Venereal Disease (MSSVD) website

BBC News

In some patients, HIV never turns into full-blown Aids - and now scientists believe they know why. They think a particular genetic mutation that can occur within the virus stops it killing off our immune cells.

It is the depletion of immune cells that leaves the body vulnerable to the opportunistic infections that characterise Aids.

But if this depletion does not take place, then some people - known as long term nonprogressors - can live with HIV replicating itself inside their bodies without developing signs of disease.

Whether knowledge of the mutation could help patients who have the normal, more dangerous form of HIV, is currently less certain.

Cell death

The finding, by scientists at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, US, centres around a gene called Vpr.

This, they say, appears to have a key role in HIV's ability to trigger cell death in immune cells.

Dr Andrew Badley, who led the research, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, said: "Clearly, something is going on to help these long term nonprogressors survive the infection - but what? "Previous studies have explained some of it - but not all."

He added: "The mutant doesn't kill as well as the normal, or wild type HIV."

The Mayo Clinic research team tested this by comparing two versions of HIV - one with the mutant Vpr gene.

They found that, in cell cultures in the laboratory, the mutant Vpr HIV had less ability to induce cell death in the immune cells.

The protein produced by each gene was compared in a similar way - and mutant Vpr protein was also less dangerous for the immune cells.

Dr Badley said: "By further exploring the role of Vpr we may be looking at a mechanism by which patients with long-term nonprogressive HIV disease are able to stay symptom free.

"That information could eventually translate into new treatments."

Protein defence

In another study, researchers from Paris are investigating a human body chemical which they are hoping to harness to attack HIV.

HIV produces its own viral protein, called Vif, to disable the human enzyme which would normally stop the virus in its tracks.

The French team, whose work is detailed in the journal Science, believe that one day they can disable this protein, allowing the enzyme to do its job.

BBC News