A reader sent me an email and asked me if I would ever date someone with an incurable STD. She had recently been diagnosed with the HSV virus (that’s herpes, y'all), and wanted my answer to be honest and not "PC." So here it is goes, my unvarnished, gut reaction to the question: No, I would not date someone with an incurable STD.

Like all things having to do with love and sex and relationships, so much depends on the timing. If we're talking about a first date, I imagine the scenario would go something like this:

ME: "What are … Read More

Ed note: Last week we featured a community blog post that warned women not to reveal their "number." Below, a man responds.

Every guy, specifically every comedian (double specifically Chris Rock) knows that a woman's number is a whole lot of hooey. You say ten; (after probably throwing up in his mouth a little) he realizes you meant 17. And it's not that you're lying, it's just dudes consider any "crossing the threshold" to be sex. (We were raised on sports in which "breaking the plane" counts as scoring: football, soccer, hockey, goat racing, etc.) And, per our … Read More

We don't often get too heavy about the more dangerous side of sex here at YourTango, but sexually transmitted diseases are part of the bargain, unfortunately.

Amazing news this weekend of medical breakthrough in Germany: a man receiving a bone marrow transplant for leukemia appears to have been cured of HIV, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Typically HIV-positive indivuals take anti-retroviral drugs to treat the virus. But a 42-year-old American man living in Berlin was HIV-positive until a bone marrow transplant with cells from a donor naturally immune to all forms of HIV. Doctors have not … Read More

My live-in boyfriend and I had been together almost two years. Although he was on a six-month deployment to the Philippines, the relationship felt solid, and when I learned he would be home for a  three day weekend mid-deployment, I was overjoyed. 

We had a fantastic visit and lost no opportunity to make up for lost time in the bedroom. But about three days after he left, I started feeling strange. It felt as if my vagina was literally on fire, and obviously, I knew something was terribly wrong. The pain became unbearable and I went to see the doctor … Read More

This is either really Orwellian or a step in the right direction for openness: you can get a card that'll prove you're STD-free!

Yes, just like you have a license to drive, STFree Communications gives you a license to bone! Your card comes with a phone number on that back that potential partners can call to prove you've recently been tested.

Not that you need us to remind you, but STDs are scary stuff. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in '06 that roughly 19 million STD infections occur each year, almost half among … Read More

While tomfoolery generally gets all the attention today, the first of April, there are other observances to be aware of this month. April serves as Sports Eye Safety Month, National Welding Month and, a least favorite for ranidaphobes like myself, National Frog Month.

Perhaps most importantly, with the CDC recently reporting that one in four teenage girls has at least one sexually transmitted disease (STD), April is the time of year for (STD) awareness. Out of the nearly 850 girls aged 14-19 who participated in the CDC's study, 18% tested positive for human papillomavirus (HPV), … Read More

From The Des Moines Register

A Sioux City woman was placed on probation after pleading guilty to a charge of knowingly transmitting HIV to a sexual partner.

Leslie Flaggs, 46, pleaded guilty in Woodbury County District Court to transmission of Human Immunodeficiency Virus, which causes AIDS.

Flaggs did not tell a man, with whom she had sex with numerous times earlier this year, that she had HIV.

Tango’s Take
Uh, yeah, there’s sort of a social contract that states that you’re supposed to disclose what you got to your sex partners. This is particularly important if it’s, you know something with no … Read More

From The Associated Press
By Mike Stobbe

ATLANTA (AP) — More than 1 million cases of chlamydia were reported in the United States last year — the most ever reported for a sexually transmitted disease, federal health officials said Tuesday.

"A new U.S. record," said Dr. John M. Douglas Jr. of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

More bad news: Gonorrhea rates are jumping again after hitting a record low, and an increasing number of cases are caused by a "superbug" version resistant to common antibiotics, federal officials said Tuesday.

Syphilis is rising, too. The rate of congenital syphilis — … Read More

From Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report

Eleven percent of men in the U.S. report that they have conducted multiple sexual relationships at the same time during the past year -- a behavior that could be contributing to the spread of HIV in the country -- according to a study published online on Tuesday in the American Journal of Public Health, Reuters Health reports. For the study, Adaora Adimora of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and colleagues examined data from a 2002 federal survey that included 4,928 men between ages 15 and 44. The study showed that 11% of the men … Read More

From PR Newswire

SALINE, Mich.(www.positivefriends.com), a new online support network for those affected by STDs (Sexually Transmitted Diseases), today announced its official launch into the online social networking and dating scene.

The site is the result of two years of R&D and features new technology intended to provide members living with HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis, Herpes, and HPV (Human Papilloma Virus) varying levels of privacy they can personalize to their own comfort levels. Utilizing proprietary ID masking technology, members can manipulate images they upload, giving them the option of cropping or blurring their photos, … Read More