+Quotes | August 30, 2011

“The panel felt strongly that it was wrong and a mistake that the United States was an outlier in not specifying any system for compensation for research subjects other than, 'You get a lawyer and sue.'”

—AMY GUTMANN, chair of the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues, which concluded on Tuesday its investigation into a series of federally funded experiments in the 1940s in which study volunteers in Guatemala were deliberately infected with sexually transmitted diseases without their consent. To address research-related injuries going forward, the commission recommended that the U.S. create a compensation system for those who are injured; many countries around the world and some U.S. research institutions already have such systems in place. [via The Washington Post]

+Infectious Disease | July 11, 2011

Scientists Discover Drug-Resistant Gonorrhea ‘Superbug’

By Laura Blue
MOREDUN ANIMAL HEALTH LTD/SPL

A new, untreatable strain of the sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea has been discovered in Japan, according to an international team of infectious disease experts. The strain, named H041, is resistant to all known forms of antibiotics.

+Numbers | November 23, 2010

301,000

Number of new gonorrhea infections in the U.S. in 2009, the lowest rate since reporting began in 1941. Rates of other sexually transmitted disease rates continued to climb, however, including chlamydia, which reached a record high of 1.2 million cases in 2009 [via The Associated Press]

+Sexuality | June 23, 2010

A swinger’s risk of sexually transmitted infections

By TIME.com

As well as skeeving us all out, swingers — couples who regularly swap partners at organized parties or clubs — may have rates of sexually transmitted infection (STI) that are higher than those in high-risk groups, like female prostitutes, a Dutch study found. Middle-aged swingers, over the age of 45, were particularly vulnerable to disease. [...]

+Sexuality | March 30, 2010

Emergence of antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea

By Tiffany O'Callaghan

Growing resistance to two leading antibiotic treatments could make the sexually transmitted infection gonorrhea more difficult to treat, according to warnings from a British health official reported by the BBC. At a meeting of the Society for General Microbiology in Edinburgh, Dr. Catherine Ison, a gonorrhea specialist from the U.K.’s Health Protection Agency, warned that [...]