(Dec. 9, 2008) While many prominent organizations push for the effective use of condoms, women in the Chicago suburbs might be surprised to learn that avoiding HIV and STDs is not that easy when it comes to casual sex.
Warnings circulated on Dec. 1, World AIDS day, of health risks of sex outside of marriage. Women and girls, especially teens, have unique risks for becoming infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, reported the newspaper, the Arizona Silver Belt.
Many younger women have their first sexual encounters with older men, the newspaper reports. And teenaged girls in relationships with older men often feel uncomfortable insisting that their partners use condoms.
"Women are often not aware that their partners are at risk for HIV or STD's. Men may engage in risky activities outside of a relationship, and the woman involved may have no idea he is doing so. For example, a man might have several sex partners or have sex with other men. He might also be using injection drugs or abusing alcohol and other dangerous substances," the paper reported.
Most women become infected with HIV by having sex with men, rather than by injection drug use or other ways. Substance abuse, such as the use of methamphetamine, alcohol, or cocaine, can play an important part in the spread of HIV.
While many women use birth control pills or shots to prevent pregnancy, and some use IUDs, these methods were never intended to prevent the spread of infection, experts say.
Organizations such as Planned Parenthood advocate the effective use of condoms to prevent disease. In actual practice, however, they are less effective than users would suppose, giving them a false sense of security, according to experts.
"You just can't tell people it's all right to do whatever you want as long as you wear a condom. It [AIDS] is just too dangerous a disease to say that," noted Dr. Harold Jaffee, former chief of the National Center for Infectious Diseases at the U.S. National Centers for Disease Control.
"Simply put, condoms fail. And condoms fail at a rate unacceptable for me as a physician to endorse them as a strategy to be promoted as meaningful AIDS protection," stated Dr. Robert Redfield, former chief of retroviral research at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.
Women in Berwyn, North Riverside, Forest Park, Cicero, Maywood and nearby cities should call WomanCare in Berwyn, at 708-795-6000 to learn more about the risks of condoms before they make a decision about using them.
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