Brazil Hands out Nearly Half Billion Condoms

Brazil's government says it handed out nearly a half-billion free condoms last year — a record for the nation's campaign to reduce AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.
    Brazil's Health Ministry says it distributed 493 million condoms last year. That's 2 1/2 condoms for every person in Latin America's largest nation. They cost the government about $19 million. The ministry says the Brazilian government buys and distributes more condoms than any other nation. About 90 percent of all condoms used in Brazil are provided by the government.The federal government distributes the condoms, with some going to states and municipalities to be handed out in various programs including in Brazil's schools.

 

via @abcnews.com

December 2011- Health Observations and Events

December 2011 Health Current Events - Weeks

Event	Date	Nation	Organisation
THIS WEEKNational Aplastic Anemia and MDS Awareness Week	1st Dec - 7th Dec	United States	AA & MDSIF

National Hand Washing Awareness Week                                                4th Dec−10th Dec

December 2011 Health Events - Days

Event	Date	Nation	Organization
World Aids Day	1st Dec	Worldwide	World Aids Day
International Day Of Disabled Persons	3rd Dec	Worldwide	United Nations

Facts about Intercourse during Menstruation

         Sex during periods is a matter of personal preference and cultural beliefs. Medically, it is safe to have sex during your period as long as you don't use it as a ticket to have unprotected sex.
       Deciding to have sexual intercourse requires knowledge about both the male and female reproductive systems, STDS, and birth control. Sex can become even more complicated when it comes to deciding when and where to do the deed; in particular, you may find that you or your partner want to have sex during your menstrual period. But is sex during your period safe? Here are some answers to a few of the most common questions regarding period sex. 

Is it Safe To Have Sex During Your Period?
Many men and women worry that having sexual intercourse during a woman's period is unhealthy. Though frowned upon in many cultures and faiths, sexual intercourse during menstruation is entirely normal and completely healthy.
Worries about this act generally stem from societal misconceptions about menstrual blood: most girls are taught from a young age that their menstrual blood is unclean and "dirty," and therefore should be hidden and contained at all times. However, menstrual blood is an entirely natural bodily fluid, and does not in anyway affect a man's penis or a woman's reproductive tract. As long as you are engaging in safe and protected sexual intercourse, it is entirely alright for you and your partner to have sex during your period.

Benefits of having sex during menstruation:

• Sex may help relieve pre or post menstrual symptoms if you get an orgasm
• Endorphins released during an orgasm are natural painkillers and mood lifters, which can allay cramps, headaches, mild depression, and irritability associated with periods
• Some women also claim enjoying sex more when they are menstruating because of the feelings of fullness in the pelvic and genital areas

the "Berlin Patient " - German Doctors believe the man have been cured of HIV Infection as a Result of the Treatment with Stem Cell Transplant

The 'Berlin patient' is an HIV-positive man who developed acute myeloid leukaemia, received successful treatment and subsequently experienced a relapse in 2007 that required a transplant of stem cells.

• While the highly lethal technique used on the man known as the "Berlin Patient" would not work for most of the 33 million people with HIV worldwide, scientists say the research shows important progress toward a universal cure.

"Our results strongly suggest that cure of HIV has been achieved in this patient," said the study in the peer-reviewed journal Blood, a publication of the American Society of Hematology.

Before the stem cell transplant the patient received chemotherapy treatment that destroyed most immune cells and total body irradiation, and also received immunosuppressive drugs to prevent rejection of the stem cells.
Antiretroviral therapy was halted on the day of the transplant, and the patient had to receive a second stem cell transplant 13 days after the first one, due to a further relapse of leukaemia.

The patient continued to receive immunosuppressive treatment to prevent rejection for 38 months, and at 5, 24 and 29 months post-transplant colon biopsies were taken to investigate possible graft-versus-host disease in the intestine. At each investigation additional samples were taken to check for signs of HIV infection in the abundant immune cells of the gut wall.

One of the challenges for any approach to curing HIV infection is long-lived immune system cells, which need to be cleared before a patient can be cured. In the case of the Berlin patient CCR5-bearing macrophages could not be detected after 38 months, suggesting that chemotherapy had destroyed these longer-lived cells, and that they had also been replaced by donor cells.

The German researchers and San Francisco-based immunologist Professor Jay Levy believe that the findings point to the importance of suppressing the production of CCR5-bearing cells, either through transplants or gene therapy.

2010 Overview in Medical System (IV)

• CHOCHOLATE Reduces Stroke Risk
• SIBUTRAMINE withdrawn from Market
• HIV Prevention with TRUVADA
• First Oral Drug for Multiple Sclerosis

 

CHOCHOLATE Reduces Stroke Risk

A systematic review from Canadian researchers suggests higher chocolate consumption may be associated with a lower risk for incident stroke and stroke-related mortality. The results were released in February in advance of their presentation at the American Academy of Neurology 62nd Annual Meeting in April.

World AIDS Day - 1 December

                                                                    World AIDS Day
                                                                                1 December

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                    In 1988, the General Assembly expressed deep concern at the pandemic proportions of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Noting that the World Health Organization had declared 1 December 1988 World AIDS Day, the Assembly stressed the importance of observing that occasion (resolution 43/15). Today, over 41 million people are living with HIV/AIDS. To combat HIV/AIDS , malaria and other diseases is one of the Millennium Development Goals which all 191 United Nations Member States have pledged to meet by the year 2015.

The World AIDS Campaign (WAC) has chosen as its theme from 2005 to 2010:

“Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise.”

Let's talk about Sexually Transmitted Diseases (I)

• What are STD?
  
  
  

  

            
   
  STDs Overview Presentation
  

  
  
  

 (STIs) Sexually transmitted infections/diseases  are a major global cause of  
                    *acute illness, 
                    * infertility,
                    *long-term disability and   
                    *death, with severe medical and psychological consequences for millions of men, women and infants.STIs are spread primarily through person-to-person sexual contact.
       There are over 30 different sexually transmissible bacteria, viruses and parasites. Several STIs, particularly HIV and syphilis, can be transmitted through blood products and tissue transfer, and from mother to child during pregnancy and childbirth.
             Symptoms of STIs may be
    -absent,
    -mild and transient,
    - acute(as with gonorrhoea, chancroid, herpes simplex virus).
      Many STIs can have severe long-term consequences. In adults, chlamydia and gonorrhoea may lead to complications such as infertility, chronic illness and potentially fatal ectopic pregnancy. Chlamydia, gonorrhoea and syphilis can produce serious and often life-threatening conditions in fetuses and newborn babies, such as congenital syphilis, pneumonia and low birth weight. Infection with human papillomavirus is a proven precondition for the development of carcinoma of the cervix, which is the second leading cause of female cancer mortality worldwide.
Some of the most common sexually transmitted pathogens can be divided into bacteria, viruses and parasites.

Common bacteria

• Neisseria gonorrhoeae (causes gonorrhoea or gonococcal infection)
• Chlamydia trachomatis (causes chlamydial infections)
• Treponema pallidum (causes syphilis)
• Haemophilus ducreyi (causes chancroid)
• Klebsiella granulomatis (previously known as Calymmatobacterium granulomatis, causes granuloma inguinale or donovanosis)

Common viruses

• HIV (causes AIDS)
• Herpes simplex virus type 2 (causes genital herpes)
• Human papillomavirus (causes genital warts and certain subtypes lead to cervical cancer in women)
• Hepatitis B virus (causes hepatitis and chronic cases may lead to cancer of the liver)
• Cytomegalovirus (causes inflammation in a number of organs including the brain, eye and bowel)

Parasites

• Trichomonas vaginalis (causes vaginal trichomoniasis)
• Candida albicans (causes vulvovaginitis in women and inflammation of the glans penis and foreskin in men)

Related articles by Zemanta

• 10 Things You Need to Know About STDs (lifescript.com)
• STDs on the Rise (lifescript.com)
• Most Common Venereal Diseases (brighthub.com)