The Health Blog

Now that’s a depressing and alarming fact.

The Center for Disease Control reports that more than 3 million teenaged girls have at least one sexually transmitted disease (STD). Mostly affected are African-American teens, with 48 percent of African-American teenaged girls have an STD, compared with 20 percent of white teenaged girls. Common sexually transmitted diseases found in this population include human papillomavirus (HPV), chlamydia, herpes simplex virus and trichomoniasis.

What do these findings say? Aside from being reflective of promiscuity of teenage nowadays, more than 3 American teens are at risk of complications of STD including cervical cancer and infertility.

STD is always preventable. The only sure way to prevent STIs is by not having sex. If you have sex, you can lower your risk of getting an STI by only having sex with someone who isn’t having sex with anyone else and who doesn’t have an STI.

For parents, proper education to their children is advocated.  Learning always comes first from home.  Teens are always curious.  They want to try every thing, that even including sex.  With proper education and guidance, teens can be made to understand the risks of early sexual relationships and unprotected sex.

A survey conducted by National Headache Foundation survey of some 170 headache patients, 46% reported having had sex-related headaches.

When asked if sex has ever triggered a headache, 54% said no and 46% said yes. Sex-related headaches most often occurred after sex, the survey shows.

Among people reporting sex-related headaches, about 40% said they’ve cut back on their sexual activity because of their sex-related headaches, and only 12% said they’ve talked to a doctor about their sex-associated headaches.

That doesn’t mean that sex is their only headache trigger. Among people who reported sex-related headaches, 42% reported having had no more than six of those headaches.

Not everyone got headaches from sex. In fact, 20% of participants noted sex eases their headaches and 6% report having sex more often for the headache relief.

The FDA has recently approved Lybrel, the first low-dose contraceptive pill that gives women an option to stop their menstrual cycle for an indefinite period of time.

About Lybrel:
It is the newest form of birth control approved by the FDA. The drug is developed by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, which contains 90 micrograms of levonorgestrel and 20 micrograms of ethinyl estradiol, a combination similar to that found in other low-dose oral contraceptives.

It differs, however, with other contraceptive pills because it replaces the four- to seven-day placebo pill with continuous daily dosing for nonstop birth control with no menstrual periods.

Genital Warts (human papilloma viris or HPV) are the most common sexually transmitted infection.

The following factors can put you at a higher risk for getting genital warts:

• If you have multiple sexual partners
• If you do not know the status of your sexual partner
• If you start to become sexually active at an early age
• If you are a heavy smoker and drinker
• If you suffer from stress as well as other viral infections (such as HIV or herpes)

So you have just given birth and are currently nursing your newborn child when suddenly an old familiar feeling starts to creep in. It might start as a fleeting, barely noticeable craving that slowly or suddenly turns into a gnawing desire. Before you know it, your sex drive is in high gear once again. You might feel that your body is not up to it yet, but your libido surely is. So what does one hot mama do when she starts to long for some loving?

Mothers need to let their body heal after giving birth before engaging in sex whether they have given birth normally or by C-section. Medical experts suggest that new moms wait for six weeks from giving birth before having sexual intercourse again. Ultimately though, it is up to the woman to decide whether she is already ready to sex or not. If you have just given birth but feel ready to get into some bedroom action, there are smart and safe ways to have sex again.

A study published in the New England Journal found out that the same virus that causes cervical cancer, which is the human papillomavirus or HPV, increases the risk of throat cancer for both men and women engaging in oral sex.

The study involved 100 patients with throat cancer and 200 without it, found that those infected with the human papillomavirus (HPV) were 32 times as likely to develop one form of oral cancer than those free of the virus. This makes it clear that oral HPV infection is a risk factor for throat cancer. The research suggests that unprotected oral sex is a major reason people are contracting throat cancer — not just smoking and excessive alcohol consumption, as previously believed.

The development of HPV Vaccine is one of revolutionary contributions to cervical cancer treatment. HPV or Human papillomavirus is considered the causative agent for cervical cancer.

The FDA or Food and Drug Administration recently licensed the vaccine Gardasil® which is said to protect against four HPV types, which together cause 70% of cervical cancers and 90% of genital warts.

Who should get the vaccine?
The HPV vaccine is recommended for 11-12 year-old girls, and can be given to girls as young as 9. The vaccine is also recommended for 13-26 year-old girls/women who have not yet received or completed the vaccine series.

LONDON - In an “extraordinary development” in the fight against AIDS, a medical journal article published Friday says that conclusive data shows there is no question circumcision reduces men’s chances of catching HIV by up to 60 percent.

The question now is how to put that fact to work to combat AIDS across Africa.

The findings were first announced in December, when initial results from two major trials — in Kenya and Uganda — showed promising links between circumcision and HIV transmission. However, those trials were deemed so definitive that the tests were halted early.

The full data from the trials, carried out by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, were published Friday in The Lancet.

Yahoo Health News - A Japanese spa is offering the perfect aphrodisiac for Valentine’s Day — chocolate baths.

Those who just can’t get enough of the sweet stuff can immerse themselves in water mixed with cacao and fragrant bath powders. Twice a day, staff pour creamy chocolate over the bathers, who smear it over the bodies or lick it off.

“This bath is my Valentines Day gift for him this year,” said Mayumi Uekusa, who travelled more than two hours with her boyfriend to the Yunessun spa in Hakone, north of Tokyo, to soak in a mixture of warm water, cacao and aromatic bath powders.

“Life ain’t as sweet as this bath, darling,” quipped her boyfriend Yuichi Omata. Japanese women have long been the ones to give their guys gifts on Valentine’s Day.

While couples shared romance in the bath, families with grandmothers and babies in tow also spread chocolate over their faces and bodies. Everybody wore a bathing suit.