STDs

If the prospect of gonorrhea already worries you, you better prepare for a world with a gonorrhea superbug. A doctor in Japan has discovered a strain of the STI that is not treatable with any of the antibiotics currently used to treat gonorrhea.

Gonorrhea is one of the most common STIs; 340 million people contract it each year, and in the US at least 700,000 do. And while gonorrhea can cause painful sex, swollen testicles, pain while urinating, and infertility in women, it's currently treatable. That may soon change if this new drug-resistant strain spreads. Here are three things to know about this worrisome development.

• The new strain is called H041 and it's resistant to every known antibiotic.
• It was discovered in Japan. Gonorrhea has become more resistant over time, leaving only one class of antibiotics that will treat it. In the past, Japan has been the first place where new resistances are detected before spreading across the world. Typically it can be 10 to 20 years before a new resistance spreads internationally, but this superbug might move more swiftly since it's completely drug-resistant. Right now in the US, a quarter of gonorrhea strains are resistant to common antibiotics, but they can still be treated with newer drugs.
• Doctors may use untested medicine to treat it. Doctors are urgently working to develop new drugs, but if someone contracts H041 before they can, untested medicine will be the only treatment option. In the meantime, using a combination of two different types of antibiotics to treat nonsuperbug infections will help limit the creation of an even greater resistance.

This week's confession comes from our anonymous Confession Booth group in the TrèsSugar Community. Weigh in with your advice below.

Well . . . OK. I have a past like everyone else, but mine is a bit more shocking cause its so far out of character from the person I am now.

Through a suicidally depressing, rebellious period senior year and a few years out of college, with an "I don't give a sh*t attitude," I did a lot of things I regret and ended up with consequences that aren't going to ever go away. Two and a half years later and after getting my act together and not dating at all, I meet the nicest, sweetest, most considerate guy I have ever met. I never imagined someone like him ever existed! He's made it plain how he feels for me, and things are just now getting physical with more intimate conversations. I don't know how to have this conversation . . . regret everything I did so much and am so embarrassed about it. I have HPV, which is surprisingly common and not a HUGE deal, and I don't want to admit to it or fess up to my "number" of guys.

It crosses my mind frequently how to get around this or just NOT mention it, but I know he deserves the truth, and I can't be the type of person I want so much to be if I lie about it.

I just don't even know how to begin this conversation . . .

There's lots of cool stuff going on in our community — join it, check it out, share your posts or advice in the great groups, and maybe we'll feature it here on TrèsSugar!

This question is from a Group Therapy post in our TrèsSugar Community. Add your advice in the comments!

I have been dating this wonderful guy for the last two months and we were going to get intimate for the first time last night. He goes on to tell me that he does not want to because he has HPV and does not want to infect me. Little does he know that I also have HPV. I didn't tell him because I'm embarrassed, but he was so honest with me. HPV — not warts, the one that effects the cells — is the one we both have.

What's the best way to handle this?

Have a dilemma of your own? Post it anonymously to Group Therapy for advice, and check out what else is happening in the TrèsSugar Community.

This question is from a Group Therapy post in our TrèsSugar Community. Add your advice in the comments!

The guy is very macho, from South America. We had sex once and I caught an infection because it was my first time. He got really offended and stopped talking to me. I'm heartbroken.

Have a dilemma of your own? Post it anonymously to Group Therapy for advice, and check out what else is happening in the TrèsSugar Community.

This is exactly the type of fear-mongering PSA I predicted Monday when the news came out that one strand (out of 130) of HPV can be transmitted through oral sex and cause oral cancers: an attack on all HPV. But it's in Taiwanese, so it's kind of awesome. Especially when an old man's heart-shaped sunglasses turn into a 69. Besides, it's not technically a PSA, just a humor video by Next Media Animation.

The video does make a good point, anyway. HPV is not very well understood. Until now, it was basically considered a women's problem, because the only known cancer it caused was cervical, but men have mouths and throats, too. So, yes, absolutely, more research should be done. For all we know, watching porn too closely could transmit an HPV strand associated with brain cancer.

Move over knee replacements and diabetes medication. It's time to add tests for syphilis, gonorrhea, or hepatitis B to the list of healthcare afforded America's senior population. The US is considering a plan to cover STD tests under Medicare.

Recent research found that a higher percentage of older Americans remain sexually active, and last year the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that while younger Americans have far more STDs, the rates are growing at a much faster pace among older adults. In fact, new STD diagnoses in men over 40 is up almost 50 percent since 1996. Blame it on Viagra.

As more Americans get divorced and stay healthier longer (or take meds when they need some help), they're having more sex with more people. But without the risk of pregnancy, seniors become lazy about practicing safe sex; so as sexual activity rises, so do STD rates.

In addition to Medicare-covered STD test, perhaps the US could implement a PSA campaign similar to the one in the UK. For last year's Sexual Health Week, the UK's Family Planning Association launched ads featuring throw-back fashion and a condom, asking the middle-aged: "Remember wearing this? Then remember to wear this." Just don't pick retro styles most have tried to forget.

Oh, HPV. There are 130 types of you, but a few spiteful strains won't quit. While various lead to genital warts, only a few like HPV-16 and 18 can cause cervical cancer. Now researchers say HPV-16, transmitted through oral sex, can cause oral cancer. So HPV-16 is a monster, worse than 18, but there are still plenty of strains of HPV that don't cause cervical or oral cancer.

I'm not saying don't be safe, though 81 percent of you said you don't use condoms for oral sex. But since public health officials aren't hyperspecific about actual risk or transmission, it's easy to say "well, we're all screwed" or be completely paralyzed into total fear of all sex (I've seen it).

Here are the facts: about 64 percent of oropharynx cancers (the middle part of the throat) in the US are caused by one HPV strain (HPV-16) not by all HPV. The risk of oropharnyx cancer rises with the number of people someone's performed oral sex on, as is true for any other cancer-causing STD. The real takeaway here is that HPV-16 can cause not just cervical cancer but also oral, so we really should be talking about specific strains and not pinning it all on the very vague and common HPV.

Researchers say it's too soon to tell if the current HPV vaccine will prevent against oral cancer, but since it's targeting the same HPV strain many believe it will. This news shouldn't be used to terrify kids. Instead it should serve as a reminder that the HPV vaccine — one of the many services Planned Parenthood provides besides abortion — is important, and that while oral cancer is not rampant, oral sex does come with risk.

In 1973, the United States Navy was in the business of making cartoons, namely The Return of Count Spirochete. The short film starring a vampire named after the bacterium that causes syphilis was meant to scare sailors out of sleeping around.

The 20-minute spot starts with Count Spirochete winning the award for "Communicable Disease of the Year." The cartoon for adult men then goes on to explore VD's historical background, symptoms, and dangers. Coded warnings include: "For the germs to spread from one person to the other there must be an unbroken, moist, intimate skin-to-skin contact." But soon the PSA doesn't hold back, illustrating a man's penis on fire, with puss and other disgusting cartoon representations of an STD's symptoms.

With his vaguely Russian accent, Counter Spirochete adds a taste of communist danger and a hint of Rocky and Bullwinkle. You can buy a copy of the VHS from the Pentagon Channel archives, where it was recently dug up, or you can simply watch the YouTube clip above. Enjoy!

Yesterday the Centers for Disease Control announced two of the three STDs it tracks are on the rise. While gonorrhea continues its steady decline to all-time lows, dropping another 10 percent last year, chlamydia and syphilis rates are ticking up.

Chlamydia, which is rampant among young people but curable with antibiotics, surprises me far less than syphilis, which I thought was contained to Charles Dickens's novels and the crazy lady in the attic of Jane Eyre. But, actually, it rose 39 percent since 2006.

Unfortunately, STDs travel in subgroups as different races, ages, and sexual orientations are at different risks. While gonorrhea is on the decline among the whole population, the rate among blacks is 20 times higher than whites and almost 10 times higher than Hispanics. Young black women, 15 to 24, are most affected by chlamydia, while men who have sex with men account for nearly two-thirds of syphilis cases.

Whether you're in a high-risk group or not, it seems like concern about STDs has been on the decline for the last decade, even as people are more likely to get an STD from an ex or friend with benefits. Would you say you're more worried or less?