WHAT IS IT?
GENITAL warts (also known as venereal warts) are caused by a virus, the human papillomavirus (HPV).
Warts are the most common viral STI diagnosed in the UK, with highest rates of new cases in 20 to 24-year old men and 16 to 19-year-old women.
Condoms are the only form of contraceptive that offer some protection […]

WHAT IS IT?
GENITAL herpes is caused by the herpes simplex virus (HSV) and is very similar to the herpes that appear on the hands and face (cold sores), but is found on or around the genital area.
Rates of diagnosis of genital herpes are highest among 20 to 24-year-old men and women.

WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS?
The first […]

WHAT IS IT?
SYPHILIS is caused by a bacteria and can be transmitted between partners during sexual intercourse.
In England, diagnoses of syphilis have increased substantially since 1997, driven in part by outbreaks such as those in Manchester and London.
WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS?
The illness usually begins with one or more painless but highly infectious sores appearing anywhere […]

WHAT IS IT?
GONORRHOEA is the second most common bacterial STI in the United Kingdom.
Young people are most commonly infected and the highest rates are found in London and predominantly urban areas. Infection tends to be concentrated in high risk groups, including homosexual/bisexual men and black ethnic minority populations.
The recent rises in gonorrhoea probably reflect increasing […]

WHAT IS IT?
CHLAMYDIA is the commonest sexually transmitted infection (STI) in the UK.
It is caused by the bacterium, chlamydia trachomatis.
The highest rates are seen in young people, especially men and women under 24 years.
About 10 per cent to 40 per cent of women with untreated chlamydia develop pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), ectopic pregnancy and infertility.
WHAT […]

A survey of gay men in Ireland has revealed that almost 50% have had unprotected sex.
The findings were released at the 4th Annual All Ireland Gay Health Forum, which was organised by the Gay Men’s Health Project. This project is the only statutory health service in Ireland for gay men. It provides clinical, outreach and […]

HEALTH experts believe that as many as one in ten young people could have chlamydia, the most common sexually transmitted disease in the UK. This week, a campaign called Sex and The City has been running to help raise awareness of these infections, as RACHEL WAREING discovered.
SARAH Jones* believes she was about 17 or 18 […]

VAT on condoms and other contraceptive products will be cut tomorrow from 17.5% to 5%.
The move, announced by Chancellor Gordon Brown in his March Budget, will lead to an immediate reduction in prices paid by consumers.
Following talks with retail chemists and sexual health charities, the Government decided to reduce the VAT on condoms as […]

Safe sex will have “never been cheaper” from tomorrow morning, according to the Government.
The cost of condoms will fall overnight with the Treasury cutting VAT on contraceptives.
Chancellor Gordon Brown announced the cut from 17.5 per cent to five per cent in the Budget in March and it will come into force tomorrow.
It is designed to […]

A human skin graft reinforced the hernia repair Richard Castello needed in February 2005.
A year later, the Naperville man got a disturbing letter from a doctor at the University of Chicago Hospitals, where the surgery was performed.
The tissue – by then fused with his own – had been traced to a New Jersey company […]