Health

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PrEP Provider Directory Goes Live

Researchers from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University unveiled a new website, www.preplocator.org, that will allow users to locate a medical provider or clinic that can prescribe Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) to prevent HIV infection. If taken daily, PrEP helps prevent the transmission of HIV. According to Damon L. Jacobs who founded the Facebook Group: PrEP Facts: Rethinking HIV Prevention and Sex, “We have been doing this on a grass-roots peer-to-peer level since July 1, 2013. The creators of this database used a lot of these conversations to find providers. New providers can easily be added to the […]

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Antibiotic-Resistant Gonorrhea Is on the Rise. Should Gay and Bi Men Be Concerned?

  For many gay and bi men, it’s a perennial point of contention: Are “minor” sexually transmitted infections—like chlamydia or gonorrhea—a cause for serious concern or major behavior modification? They’re no fun, to be sure, and left untreated, they can cause problems more severe than a bit of burning or discharge. But then again, like many maladies we don’t rrationally stigmatize, they’re curable with a course of antibiotics, right? For the most part they are. But a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, featured in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, found a significant rise in resistance […]

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HRC Foundation and Whitman-Walker Health Release Transgender Sexual Health Guide

Tuesday, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation and Whitman-Walker Health, a community health center with special expertise in LGBTQ and HIV-related care, released Safer Sex for Trans Bodies, a comprehensive sexual health guide for transgender and gender expansive people and their partners. The guide fills a significant gap in inclusive, publicly-available sexual health resources for transgender and gender expansive people. “Transgender people are too often denied crucial and relevant guidance around sexual health that everyone needs to live healthy, safe and whole lives” said HRC Communications Director Jay Brown. “Transgender health issues, especially those related to sexual health, are all […]

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17 Things Anyone With A Penis Needs To Know About Getting Tested

Sex is great, and you should be able to enjoy it without worrying about all the sexually transmitted infections (STIs) out there. That’s why getting tested regularly just makes sense. It’s a simple, quick, and relatively painless way to be a better, more thoughtful sex-haver.So we checked in with a few experts: Dr. Gail Bolan, Director of CDC’s Division of STD Prevention; Dr. Peter Leone, professor of medicine at UNC School of Medicine’s Division of Infectious Diseases; and Dr. David Bell, medical director and chief physician at the Young Men’s Clinic in New York. Here’s what they want you to […]

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You Can Get it From Sex, and 10 Other Things to Know About Hep C

  Did you know that there are about 3.5 million people in the U.S. with hepatitis C—and about half don’t know they’re infected? In San Francisco, it’s estimated that between 5% and 8% of men who have sex with men have hep C. At a recent Positive Force event, I invited my colleague Lisa Capaldini, MD, to speak to our group about what gay men should know about hepatitis C. Dr. Capaldini is an HIV and hep C specialist who’s been practicing in the Castro since 1989. Below is a summary of the no-nonsense, practical info she gave our guys […]

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Gonorrhea Rates Linked to Saliva Use as Lube

A new study has found that using saliva as a lubricant for anal sex among men who have sex with men leads to an increased risk for rectal gonorrhea. Research conducted by staff at the National Institutes of Health found that 4.3 percent of the 1,312 men surveyed had rectal gonorrhea. Using a partner’s saliva for lubricant was a common practice — 68.5 percent of men surveyed reported having done it. Researchers said rectal gonorrhea associated with the practice was attributable in nearly half (48.9 percent) of those cases. “Saliva use as a lubricant for anal sex is a common […]

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The Bi Guide to Doctor’s Appointments

Seeing a new doctor is a little unnerving, I’m not sure why. I don’t have any chronic health conditions, but sitting there in that exam room while this man in a lab coat assessed me for the first time was not exactly the most comfortable experience, especially since I knew I’d have to disclose some personal matters. “So, you have a girlfriend,” my new doctor began. His back was to me. And I knew he had gotten to the part of the intake form that asked how I heard about his practice. “But you heard about me through the Gay […]

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Gay ‘Cures’ Don’t Work, Says World Psychiactric Association

The World Psychiatric Association is calling “ex-gay” or “conversation” therapy “unscientific, unethical, ineffective, and harmful” in a statement released today to BuzzFeed News. The association will release a report tomorrow that will declare its opposition “to any attempts to turn LGBT people heterosexual,” in reference to the effectiveness of so-called conversion therapy. Along with declaring the inefficacy of such therapy, the WPA also called on governments around the world to decrimalize homosexuality: “WPA supports the need to de-criminalise same-sex sexual orientation and behaviour and transgender gender identity, and to recognise LGBT rights to include human, civil, and political rights.” “There is no […]

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A Third Of Endocrinologists Are Unwilling To Care For Transgender Patients

  Members of the Amnesty International LGBTIQ network march during the MidSumma festival Pride march in Australia, calling for marriage equality Reuters Health – People who are transgender may have difficulty finding endocrinologists who feel comfortable and competent in providing needed care, according to a new survey of physicians. Endocrinologists are often key healthcare providers for people who are transgender. But about a third of endocrinologists are unwilling to care for patients who are transgender, and less than half say they feel at least somewhat competent in providing that care, said Dr. Michael Irwig, who surveyed the doctors at an […]

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Study Finds Testosterone Improves Sexual Activity, Walking, Mood in Men 65+

  As men age, their testosterone levels decrease, but prior studies of the effects of administering supplements of the hormone to older men have been inconclusive. Now, researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and 12 other medical centers in the United States have shown that testosterone treatment for men over the age of 65 improves sexual function, walking ability and mood. The findings are published in the February issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. Researchers across the nation have partnered with the National Institute on Aging to conduct the Testosterone Trials (TTrials), a coordinated […]

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