Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Miami Herald - July 21, 2001
"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 released Friday.
The report said researchers could 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.
A panel of 28 researchers examined nearly 140 existing, peer-reviewed 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 report said.
The researchers found common problems with many of the other studies on the other diseases. Some lacked a 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 report said.
The report 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 researchers said.
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