*Ahem*

More entries into the "Keep Your Friggin' Pants On File":

"Colon Rubber's" Have Even More To Worry About:

A particularly bad strain of chlamydia not usually seen in this country appears to be slowly spreading among gay and bisexual men, an infection that can increase their chances of getting or spreading the AIDS virus.

Called LGV chlamydia, this sexually transmitted disease has caused a worrisome outbreak in Europe, where some countries have confirmed dozens of cases. Diagnoses confirmed by U.S. health officials still are low, just 27 since they warned a year ago that the strain was headed here.

But specialists say that's undoubtedly a fraction of the infections, because this illness is incredibly hard to diagnose: Few U.S. clinics and laboratories can test for it. Painful symptoms can be mistaken for other illnesses, such as irritable bowel syndrome.

And because LGV chlamydia doesn't always cause noticeable symptoms _ right away, at least _ an unknown number of people may silently harbor and spread it, along with an increased risk of HIV transmission.

"My feeling is that what we're seeing now is still the tip of the iceberg," says Dr. Philippe Chiliade of the Whitman-Walker Clinic in Washington, D.C., which diagnosed its first few cases of LGV last month and is beginning to push for asymptomatic men to be screened.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention already was counting an 8 percent increase in HIV among gay and bisexual men between 2003 and before LGV's arrival was recognized.

"We are really concerned about this," says Dr. Catherine McLean of CDC's HIV and STD prevention program...

And then there's this one:

Female AIDS Rates Rise Because Women Can't Keep Their Pants On And It's The Man's Fault:

As the number of young women infected with HIV and AIDS continues to rise in Canada, health officials are hoping better education and medical research will give them the power to protect themselves.

“The statistics tell us there’s a huge problem for women,” says Louise Binder, 55, who was diagnosed as HIV-positive in 1993 (likely infected by her ex-husband). She is now vice-chair of Voices of Positive Women (www.vopw.org), which says it’s the only agency in Ontario that focuses entirely on the needs of women living with HIV/AIDS.

The pattern of infection for the disease has changed significantly over the past decade, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Of the 2,529 new HIV cases reported in 2004, 26.6 per cent were women — a dramatic rise from 1996, when women accounted for just 10.5 per cent of all HIV cases. The numbers are even more alarming for those under age 20, with women accounting for 42.4 per cent of the 524 new cases in that age group in 2004 — compared to just 13.2 per cent a decade ago.

There are several reasons for the increase, including injected drug use, new immigrants who are already infected and cultural barriers to condom use.

[...]

Binder wonders if women are not taking advantage of their rights as Canadians.

“Young women still feel very much that they can’t negotiate safer sex practices with their partners,” she says. “In some cases it’s the threat of violence. In some, it’s socialization, economic independence.

“Our society, in some cases, gives more rights and women have more power to assert those rights, but it doesn’t mean that we’re asserting them. Women often don’t feel that they can. It’s a huge problem.”

One innovation in helping stop the spread of AIDS might be microbicides, which researchers suggest women could apply through gels or creams to prevent sexually transmitted diseases.

Notice how neither article address the use of abstenance or monogomy as a means of prevention?