HIV Vaccine Awareness Day

National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) is the lead for this day. Read and share this 2013 NIAID Bulletin about HIV Vaccine Awareness Day

http://www.niaid.nih.gov/news/newsreleases/2013/Pages/HVAD2013.aspx

The implementation of scientifically proven HIV prevention strategies is helping to reduce the number of new infections—the annual HIV infection rate globally fell by 22 percent from 2001 to 2011—but a great deal more must be done. Significant scale-up of proven HIV prevention strategies coupled with the discovery of new HIV treatment and prevention interventions are needed to achieve an end to the global HIV/AIDS pandemic. A safe, effective and durable HIV vaccine is an essential cornerstone to the long-term strategy to achieve this goal.

Developing a safe and effective HIV vaccine has been a long and difficult process largely because HIV has proven to be an especially tough target. Recent developments with the HVTN 505 clinical trial and analyses from the HVTN 503 “Phambili” vaccine study have been disappointing, but they also provided clear answers about investigational vaccine strategies that, ultimately, were not effective. Still, the new directions for HIV vaccines that have been recently initiated define our future path and will be pursued.

Among many projects, scientists continue to explore findings from the RV 144 HIV vaccine study in Thailand, which, in 2009, provided proof-of-concept that an HIV vaccine can afford a modest level of protection. Ongoing research related to the Thai trial is providing important information about human immune responses and other factors that may explain why the investigational vaccine protected some trial volunteers from HIV infection but not others. Such data will help advance researchers’ understanding of HIV’s structure and vulnerabilities and help guide the development of future HIV vaccine candidates. Large-scale investigational vaccine clinical trials designed to build on the RV 144 results and create a more robust and durable level of protection are expected to begin in two-to-three years in South Africa.

In basic research, scientists are making important discoveries about broadly neutralizing antibodies capable of disabling a wide range of HIV strains when tested in the laboratory setting. For example, NIAID scientists recently charted the co-evolution of HIV and a strong antibody response in an HIV-infected study participant, who is one of the 20 percent of HIV-infected individuals who naturally develops broadly neutralizing antibodies to the virus after several years of infection. Their findings could help identify which proteins to use in an investigational vaccine to induce broadly neutralizing antibodies more quickly. In another advance, a team of NIH scientists recently developed a new tool to identify broadly neutralizing antibodies from blood samples, which could help speed HIV vaccine research.

Other interesting basic research findings have included the identification of a new HIV-suppressing protein, called CXCL4, in the blood of HIV-infected individuals. NIAID scientists found that CXCL4 binds to HIV in such a way that the virus cannot attach or enter a human cell, leading to the conclusion that it may serve to regulate viral replication in an infected individual and, therefore, control the pace at which HIV disease progresses. Additionally, NIAID researchers found that even though HIV diversifies widely in infected individuals over time, the virus strains that are passed on through heterosexual transmission often resemble the strain that originally infected the transmitting partner. Learning more about the characteristics of these dominant strains could help inform HIV vaccine design.

Recent NIAID investments in basic research toward innovative HIV vaccine discovery research and vaccine immunology and immunogen discovery should also prove fruitful in the coming years for HIV vaccine research.

On this HIV Vaccine Awareness Day, NIAID thanks the thousands of men and women who have selflessly volunteered for clinical studies and the scientists and clinicians working to find an effective HIV vaccine. NIAID shares your commitment and will continue the important research needed to make a protective HIV vaccine a reality.

NIAID conducts and supports research—at NIH, throughout the United States, and worldwide—to study the causes of infectious and immune-mediated diseases, and to develop better means of preventing, diagnosing and treating these illnesses. News releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related materials are available on the NIAID website.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

Get Yourself Tested

Here is a piece from the "GYT (Get Yourself Tested) FAQs" page. For more questions about STD's and STD Related topics visit the link below:

http://www.itsyoursexlife.com/

Why should I get tested?

Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs, also called sexually transmitted infections or STIs) are very common. Every year there are more than 20 million new cases of STDs in the U.S. By age 25, roughly one in two sexually active people will get one. If you think it can’t happen to you…think again. Since STDs often show no symptoms, many of those infected don’t even know it. The only way to know if you or a partner has an STD is to get tested. Here’s the good news: the side effects and health outcomes of most STDs can be treated, and many are curable. Putting off getting care for an STD can have lasting health effects for both women and men. Left untreated, some STDs can cause infertility (that is, make you unable to have children). Some can also increase your risk of getting cancer. And get this-already having an STD increases your risk of getting HIV and other STDs if you have sex with an infected partner.

If you notice any changes or irritations “down there,” or any unusual discharge or discomfort when urinating, you should see a health care provider immediately as these may be signs of an STD. However, not all genital infections are STDs. STDs can often be mistaken for common infections or irritations. For example, bumps like pimples or hair follicles on or around the genitals may be confused for genital warts. Women often confuse STDs with yeast infections and other conditions. That’s why it’s important to see a health care provider, who can determine what (if any) STDs you should be tested for.

Not everyone likes to talk about their sexual history. But, before you start a new sexual relationship, it’s a good idea to talk with your partner about your sexual history and getting tested for STDs. After all, you are not just having sex with your partner but with everyone they’ve had sex with…and everyone they’ve had sex with…and well, you get the point. It can be intimidating to think about, but taking charge and getting tested will help you take control over the situation.

April is STD Awareness Month

APRIL IS STD AWARENESS MONTH

Check out the CDC website link for more information on STD Awareness Month and more ideas for your outreach program

http://www.cdc.gov/features/stdawareness/index.html

Know the facts! GYT: Get Yourself Tested

False assumptions about sexually transmitted diseases (STDs)—how they're spread, treated, and prevented—are everywhere and it can be especially hard for people to get the facts. Here are five you need to know:

• You can't tell someone has an STD just by looking at them.
• STD tests aren't always a part of a regular doctor visit.
• Almost all STDs that can be spread via unprotected vaginal sex can also be spread through unprotected oral and anal sex.
• Using a condom can take a lot of the worry out of sex, since it can prevent unintended pregnancy and protect you from STDs.
• STD testing is a basic part of staying healthy.

Because half of the estimated 20 million STDs that occur in the United States each year are among young people, STD Awareness Month 2015 is focused on this population. This month-long observance provides an opportunity to clear up misperceptions about STD prevention and testing, and confront the unique challenges that young people face when it comes to preventing these infections.

Half of all sexually active young people in the United States will get an STD by the time they're 25—and most won't know it.Know the Facts

Not having sex is the only way to prevent STDs. This includes vaginal, anal, and oral sex. If you are sexually active, however, you can lower your risk of getting STDs by:

• Being in a long-term mutually monogamous relationship with a partner who has been tested and does not have STDs.
• Limiting the number of people you have sex with if you have more than one partner.
• Using latex condoms and dental dams the right way every time you have sex.
• Getting an HPV vaccine, which can protect you against diseases (including cancers) caused by the human papillomavirus.

GYT: Get Yourself Tested

Getting yourself tested for STDs is one of the most important things you can do to protect your health. Not only is it quick and simple, it's also usually confidential. A 2014 study found that one-third of adolescents didn't talk about sexual health issues with their physicians at all during annual health visits. It is important to be honest with your health care provider about your sexual history so that he or she can provide you with the appropriate STD testing and prevention guidance. If you're not comfortable talking with your regular health care provider about STDs, there are many clinics that provide confidential and free or low-cost testing. It is also important that you find and visit a doctor or other medical provider who stays current on STD and HIV testing recommendations.

Share the Knowledge

Now that you know the facts, it's time to spread the word! The GYT: Get Yourself Tested campaign is a youth-oriented, empowering social movement to encourage young people to get tested and treated for STDs and HIV. GYT campaign materials have been developed for doctors, health departments, school administrators, and community-based organizations to help young people increase their knowledge about STD prevention and testing. You can order newly designed GYT posters, stickers, and postcards at CDC-INFO on Demand to display in schools, clinics, community organizations, and health departments.

GYT is a partnership between the American College Health Association, Kaiser Family Foundation, National Coalition of STD Directors, MTV, and Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Technical consultation for GYT is provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

10 Reasons to Carry Condoms

10 Reasons to Carry Condoms, Always

As the co-founder of Sustain, people always ask me: “So like, do you just carry a ton of condoms around all the time?”

The answer is YES. I carry condoms around with me just like I carry lipstick, credit cards and tampons, but not just because I started a condom company.

Here are the ten reason every woman should carry condoms always:

1. 1 in 4 Americans will contract an STD.
2. Among unmarried women in their 20s, 70% of pregnancies are unintended.
3. Only 21% of sexually active single women use condoms regularly.
4. 1 in 4 college freshmen will contract an STD by the end of their first year of college.
5. 16 – 24 year olds account for over half of all newly diagnosed STDs.
6. People in their early 20s have the highest reported cases of syphilis and HIV.
7. In the US there are 20 million new cases of STDs reported annually (that’s over 54,000 cases per day)!
8. “I’m so upset we used a condom last night.” -said no one ever
9. Condoms are no longer evidence of prostitution (Yes, this was recently very real.)
10. The U.S. has the highest rates of STDs in the industrialized world.

As young, smart, successful men and women, we are failing ourselves by leaving our sexual health in someone else’s hands. As women, we especially need to overcome the ridiculous and dated stigma attached to buying and carrying condoms, and get on top of our sexual health. -Meika Hollender, Co-Founder, Sustain Condoms

For more awesome articles on Safe Sex, please visit the SUSTAIN CONDOMS webpage: sustaincondoms.com

How do you feel about this New Sex Education Curriculum

Here is an interesting article from TheStar.com about a new Sex Education Curriculum that has caused quite a stir of emotion in one school district. Let us know where you stand.

http://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2015/02/23/ontario-finally-unveils-revamped-sex-education-curriculum.html

Sex Ed: Too far or not far enough

     Ontario’s new sex ed curriculum was unveiled Monday to mixed reviews from parents, with some lauding changes to the almost two-decade-old material as long overdue, and others vowing a showdown over what they consider age-inappropriate content.

     Education Minister Liz Sandals expected some parental opposition but reiterated that the materials will be implemented this fall as planned.

     “I anticipate there will be members of various religions who may object to one thing or another . . . but the curriculum is the curriculum that will be taught in Ontario schools,” said Sandals.

     On Monday, the Liberals unveiled the first update to the province’s health curriculum since 1998. So antiquated was the existing syllabus that it did not even reflect the legalization of same-sex marriage in Canada more than a decade ago. The update also covers cyber safety, including sexting, as well as consent, and puts the curriculum in line with what’s being taught in other provinces.

     Toronto mom Stephanie Baptist, a counsellor with Toronto Public Health, said it’s important to talk to kids about things like sexting in Grade 4 because even though they likely don’t have a cellphone, they do have access to devices “early, and often” — and often without supervision.

     Parents, she added, will always play a role no matter what schools teach.

     “Curriculum comes from the province — but the values always come from the family,” she said.

     However, as many as 2,000 parents plan to protest outside Queen’s Park on Tuesday, upset at what they feel is too much information at too young an age, as well as a lack of meaningful parental consultation.

     “My concern is about the process,” said Ziyad Mohamed, a Mississauga father of two young children who says religion has nothing to do with his concerns.

     He also feels “the government has tried to demonize those who object” rather than listen to them.

     In a telephone interview, Sandals said the curriculum underwent significant consultation with many groups over the years, and Premier Kathleen Wynne told reporters Monday the government is “very committed to this.”

      Sandals said she has not labelled parents who object as zealots — that characterization has come from the media.

      “We understand that parents are concerned and they want to know what their kids are learning,” she said, adding materials were created by experts and based on evidence.

The curriculum that will be in use in schools by this September is largely the same as what was proposed five years ago, then scrapped by then-premier Dalton McGuinty due to an outcry by a vocal minority of social conservatives.

      Farina Siddiqui, co-ordinator of the Greater Toronto group Coalition of Concerned Parents, will take part in Tuesday’s protest and said it includes parents “of faith, of no faith — from every walk of life.”

     “The ministry is calling us a fringe group. We are parents; we are the most important stakeholders in our children’s lives.”

      Wynne, who has long championed a revised curriculum, told reporters everything in the update is “age appropriate” and “it’s done in a way kids can understand,” adding it’s important for kids as young as Grade 1 to learn about “different lifestyles and different family configurations.”

     Jacki Yovanoff, a Waterloo mom of four, welcomed talk about consent and bullying, saying it builds on what she’s taught her own children about respecting their bodies and others’ bodies.

     “I understand the concern — seeing (the terms) anal sex, oral sex in writing, especially in relation to elementary-age students takes you aback,” she said, adding that when you look at what is being taught at what age, the curriculum revamp makes sense given children’s experiences today.

As first disclosed by the Star’s Martin Regg Cohn on Sunday, the modernized curriculum is designed to keep kids safe from abuse by educating them.

     Proper names for body parts and genitals will be taught in Grade 1 — something child-abuse investigators have long urged.

     The first mention of the concept of same-sex relationships will be introduced to Grade 3 students.

     Grade 4 students will learn about online safety, text messaging and “sexual pictures,” as well as puberty.

      Grade 6 students will be taught what masturbation is and will learn about healthy relationships and consent.

     Grade 7 students will be warned about the risks of “sexting” as well as informed about sexually transmitted diseases and oral and anal sex.

      Sandals noted that if parents object to “this curriculum — or, quite frankly, science curriculum or English curriculum or any other piece of curriculum — the Education Act gives a parent of any religion or belief system the right to withdraw their child from that particular lesson.”

The Pullout Generation? Condoms seem so much easier!

Here is an interesting article from New York Magazine worth reading:

NO PILL? NO PROB MEET THE PULLOUT GENERATION

http://nymag.com/thecut/2013/09/pill-no-prob-meet-the-pullout-generation.html

     Gather a group of sexually active hetero women, get a few whiskeys in them, and I guarantee that, within an hour, someone will start complaining about how there are no good birth-control options. Sure, there are the IUD evangelists (“No hormones! I barely notice it except for my lighter periods. I canceled my Amazon subscription to tampons!” one friend told me cheerily), and those who have quietly and happily been on the pill or the NuvaRing since their teenage years. But there’s always at least one or two — often many more — who cannot wait to commiserate about their mood swings, depression, or loss of sex drive when they’re on birth control. Condoms are kind of the worst, they all agree, but even some women in long-term monogamous relationships say they’d rather use them than pop a hormone pill every day. This dissatisfaction is exhaustively chronicled in  a new book, Sweetening the Pill, which is dedicated to “every woman who has suffered physically and emotionally as a result of hormonal birth control.”

     What the book doesn’t mention — and what some of these women are reluctant to admit, even after a few cocktails — is that some of them have given up on conventional birth control and are relying on the pullout method. Yeah, they know it’s got failure rates to rival condom use at its sloppiest. But these are women who are sick of taking hormones, are in a long-term relationship with a man they trust, and rely on a period-tracker app so they know to use a condom when they’re ovulating. The risk is one they all seem pretty comfortable with.

According to some research, this isn’t as crazy as it sounds. A 2009 studyfound that, when you compare typical condom use to typical use of the pullout method (rather than the ideal usage of each), the withdrawal method is only slightly more likely than condoms to result in pregnancy. A recent survey conducted by the delightfully named Dr. Annie Dude, a researcher at Duke University, found that almost a third of women between the ages of 15 and 24 have relied on coitus interruptus as a birth-control method. A slew of disappointed articles followed. “Ladies, I implore you: Get on some real birth control,” wrote Janelle Harris at Clutch magazine. Slate’s Amanda Marcotte called the findings “worrisome.” Venerated sexpert Dr. Ruth Westheimer has compared the pullout method to Russian roulette, and clarified that the research mostly proved how often condoms are misused, not how safe withdrawal is.

     Every single American woman who’s now in her childbearing years came of age in the era of legal birth control. Many were prescribed the pill before they even started having sex. For years, the pullout method was taboo — seen as non–birth control for ignorant risk-takers. Admitting that you trusted a man — granted, a man who was your monogamous partner, but still — to pull out in time? That was ceding too much control.But I know a dozen women in their late twenties and thirties who, after years of jumping from brand to brand and always feeling crazy or depressed, or after years of nagging health concerns about taking hormones, finally said "enough" and told their partners to put on a condom and deal with it. Though we all want safe and accessible and reliable contraceptive options — thanks, Obamacare? — the pill is no longer synonymous with sexual liberation.

    These women describe a deliberate transition from the pill to the pullout. They buy organic kale and all-natural cleaning products, and so can’t quite get down with taking synthetic hormones every day. They are more driven by sexual pleasure — they see orgasms as a right, not a privilege — and hate the feel of condoms. They wouldn’t call themselves porn aficionados or anything, but they don’t think it’s demeaning to have a man come on them. They’re sick of supposedly egalitarian relationships in which they bear the sole responsibility for staying baby-free. They're scared to stick an IUD up there, no matter how many rave reviews the devices get. And despite the fact that non-hormonal contraceptive options remain frustratingly limited, there are new tools at their disposal: With period-tracker apps, charting your menstrual cycle is no longer the domain of hippies and IVF patients. They know when to make him put on a condom. Plus, they can keep a packet of Plan B on hand at all times, ready and waiting should anything go awry. So it makes a certain amount of sense that, for these women, the pullout method is looking more like a legitimate contraception option.

     “I've been on the pill for about six years and stopped after a dinner party last month when I realized that all seven women there were not only not on the pill, but had only good things to say about going off,” says a 31-year-old friend of mine, a recent convert to using a cycle-tracking app, pluscondoms while she’s ovulating. As another 31-year-old friend recently told me of her choice to use pullout-plus-period-tracker, “I kind of struggled with our method for a while. It seemed kind of embarrassing and definitely felt irresponsible. But after six or so years of this style, we have still never been pregnant.”

But when I talked to women in their early twenties who have relied on withdrawal, I realized their decisions were far less deliberate. Younger women tended to say they had condomless sex with no birth-control backup only when they were too drunk or too in-the-moment or too shy to protest. “I feel like it was used by older men who didn't want to use condoms,” one 24-year-old told me, “and because of my inexperience I didn't advocate for a more reliable method. So I kind of had to trust that they would withdraw in time and it was hella stressful.”

When I asked these women whether they would ever rely on the pullout method, some were appalled. “I and at least one friend of mine ask our boyfriends to pull out in addition to using hormonal birth control,” says Sarah, 22. “I feel like the pullout method is maybe one of the dumbest things a lady could possibly do,” adds Allison, 21. “There's just too much risk, to me — especially if you're that young.”

     It’s no coincidence that the pullout advocates I know are women who have been sleeping with the same man for years. More than any other birth-control choice, the pullout method requires women to relinquish control and put a significant amount of trust in their partner. But it also comes with the benefit of sharing the burden of preventing pregnancy. After years of being the ones who had to remember to take a pill or replace the ring, pullout puts the onus on men. A friend of mine, who’s 32, says her current partner has more reservations than she does about using the withdrawal method. “He’s like, ‘I’m nervous. Sometimes I feel like I’m going to fail at my job,’” she says, adding earnestly, “It’s a lot of pressure for them.”

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