Condoms Only Partially Effective Against STDs

Condoms Only Partially Effective Against STDs

NewsMax.com Wires
Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Numerous studies have documented the effectiveness of condoms - latex, but not natural or lambskin ones - in preventing pregnancy and spread of the AIDS virus.

Condoms reduce chances of pregnancy over a year's time to 3 percent with perfect use and 14 percent with typical use, compared with 85 percent with no birth control. Perfect use means a condom is used every time and is put on before any skin-to-skin contact.

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With perfect condom use, chances of being infected with the HIV virus are reduced about 80 percent; that translates into less than a 1 percent chance of infection over a year.

For nearly all other sexually transmitted diseases, health agencies and experts say there is clear evidence that condoms reduce risk of infection, but many studies were small or poorly designed and more research is needed.

Also, because some diseases are more readily spread than others and some can be transmitted by lesions not covered by a condom, the effectiveness of condoms varies by disease.

According to a 2004 bulletin from the World Health Organization and a 2001 report by the National Institutes of Health, individual studies found condom use reduced the risk of infection for:

Genital herpes, by 30 percent to 92 percent in women; less in men (no number given).

Gonorrhea, by 49 percent to 75 percent in men, and by 39 percent to 62 percent in women.

Chlamydia, by 26 percent to 90 percent in women and by 33 percent in men.

Pelvic inflammatory disease, by 55 percent. PID is a leading cause of infertility and is caused by gonorrhea and chlamydia infection.

Trichomoniasis, by 30 percent in women, with significant reduction in men (no number given).

Syphilis, by 40 percent to 60 percent in both sexes.

Genital ulcers (chancroid), by 18 percent to 23 percent.

There is no evidence condoms prevent human papilloma virus, HPV, a group of viruses that can cause cervical cancer but are usually killed by the immune system. Studies have shown condoms reduced risk of the genital warts caused by HPV by 30 percent in women and about 40 percent in men, and reduce the risk of cervical cancer in women.

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