Link: New York Blade Online
Disease believed to infect more than 700,000 people each year
Apr 13, 3:30 PM
The sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea is now among the “superbugs” resistant to common antibiotics, leading U.S. health officials to recommend wider use of a different class of drugs to avert a public health crisis.
The resistant form accounts for more than one in every four gonorrhea cases among heterosexual men in Philadelphia and nearly that many in San Francisco, according to a survey that led to Thursday’s recommendation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Gonorrhea, which is believed to infect more than 700,000 people in the United States each year, can leave both men and women infertile and puts people at higher risk of getting the AIDS virus.
Since the early 1990s, a class of drugs known as fluoroquinolones has provided a relatively easy cure. These antibiotics, taken as tablets, include the drug Cipro.
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Link: NYC Free Condom Giveaway Declared “A Sensation”
3 Days Ago - April 5, 2007 by vitabeat.com
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg officially declared the city’s free condom distribution program, “a sensation,” saying New York has given away a record 5 million condoms during the first month of the city’s new safe-sex awareness effort.
The condoms, which feature the words “NYC CONDOM,” are designed similarly to the city’s subway system, complete with the trademark font and colors of the transit system. The condoms are being distributed throughout the city in an effort to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS, other sexually transmitted diseases, and reduce unwanted pregnancies.
According to the report, more than 100,000 of New York’s 8.2 million residents are infected with HIV/AIDS, a statistic Mayor Bloomberg hopes his new health project will help reduce.
Despite objections from NYC religious groups over what they say is promoting promiscuity and degrading social values, the city’s free condom program is proving to be a popular idea with citizens and businesses alike.
In a statement, Department of Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden said, “The NYC Condom is a sensation,” adding that, “Hundreds of community organizations are signing up to give out free condoms, many for the first time.”
