Condoms May Not Prevent All STDs
Condoms are usually effective against fighting the spread of HIV and gonorrhea, but there is not enough evidence to say for certain they protect against other sexually transmitted diseases, federal health officials conclude in a draft report.
"To definitely answer the remaining questions about condom effectiveness for preventing STD (sexually transmitted disease) infections will require well-designed and ethically sound clinical studies," says the National Institutes of Health study to be released Friday.
The draft report does not draw conclusions about the adequacy of condoms in reducing the risk of disease "other than HIV transmission in men and women, and gonorrhea in men." HIV is the virus that causes AIDS.
AIDS activists distributed the report Thursday, contending that the Bush administration would use it to promote an abstinence-only agenda. The activists argue that abstinence warnings are not as effective in preventing sexually transmitted diseases as encouraging the use of barrier contraceptives such as condoms.
"The fact is young people are having sex," said Michael Cover, a spokesman for the Whitman-Walker Clinic, a Washington-based clinic that primarily serves people infected with HIV. "Accurate information about condoms has to be made available."
A Health and Human Services Department official speaking on condition of anonymity on Thursday confirmed the authenticity of the report draft.
A panel of researchers examined dozens of existing studies involving HIV, gonorrhea, syphilis, strains of genital herpes and other sexually transmitted diseases. The group's main focus was trying to answer the question of how effective is latex male condom use in preventing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases during vaginal intercourse.
"The published data documenting effectiveness of the male condom were strongest for HIV," the draft said.
The researchers found common problems with many of the other studies on the other diseases. Some lacked the sufficient number of subjects. Many studies were done among high-risk groups such as prostitutes or patients at sexually transmitted disease clinics.
"For most studies the ability to document exposure to disease in relationship to condom use was uncertain," the draft said.
The draft said one in five American adults has a sexually transmitted disease and roughly 15 million new STD infections occur each year. Many of those new infections go undiagnosed, and therefore untreated, the draft said.
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