Sexually Transmitted Diseases

Afflicted: STD Rates Are Rising, but No One Knows Why

David France: ACT UP in the Plague Years

Moms Sue Fresno School District Over Bad Sex Education Policy

It appears the educators over in Fresno might have eaten one too many fried chicken sandwiches from Chick-fil-A . In the small suburb of Clovis, the school district is refusing to teach kids about sex prevention, telling students instead to abstain from the natural act, and "get plenty of rest" to s ... More >>

FDA Approves Drug That Reduces the Spread of HIV

Truvada, the first drug shown to drastically reduce the spread of HIV, was approved by the Food and Drug Administration today as a successful preventative measure for people at high risk of contracting the virus. Produced by Foster City-based biotech company Gilead Sciences Inc., Truvada h ... More >>

SF AIDS Walk to Convene in Golden Gate Park This Weekend

It's that time of year again. This Sunday, a crowd of 25,000 is expected to gather at Golden Gate Park to begin a 6.2-mile trek across the city to raise millions for the San Francisco Aids Foundation and other Bay Area HIV/AIDS organizations. The 26th Annual SF AIDS Walk claims the money raised by ... More >>

How You Can Get Tested for STDs in the Comfort of Your Own Home

As we've noted before, San Francisco is a hotbed of sexually transmitted diseases, and it's not just because we aren't regularly using condoms. It's also because we aren't regularly getting tested for STDs.But Bay Area health departments are making it so that you really have no excuse to not get tes ... More >>

AIDS Activistis Use Good Friday to Shame the Catholic Church

The only thing that might make Good Friday even better for some is a loud protest of the Catholic Church. We'll leave that one to San Francisco's AIDS activists who have made a long list of institutions they plan to shame today, including banks, cops, and Catholics.To remember the 20,000 San Francis ... More >>

Marijuana-Like Compounds Stop Spread of AIDS, Study Says

​In many ways, without AIDS, there would be no medical marijuana. But there could be a twist, according to new research: With medical marijuana (or synthetic marijuana-like compounds), there could be less AIDS.Researchers believe there's a link between cannabis use -- or at least drugs that share ... More >>

Keep VD Out of Valentine's Day, Use a Condom

​While they have the attention of lovers and horny people everywhere, health officials are camping onto Valentine's Day to promote National Condom Week. And that's probably a good idea, considering the news last week detailing San Francisco's STD problem. Today, the California Family Health Counci ... More >>

San Francisco Is a Hotbed of STDs

Do you need someone from the health department to slip it in for you?​Just a year ago, the city's Health Department proudly released the female condom 2 with forceful fanfare. But after reviewing some preliminary stats on STD cases over the last year, we've concluded that those touted contraceptiv ... More >>

On World AIDS Day, No Talk of 'Barebacking' in San Francisco

​Today is World AIDS Day, and the men and women who have devoted themselves to fighting this pandemic -- from Bono to former President George W. Bush -- can justifiably take credit for a lot of progress.The day has particular resonance in San Francisco, which was at the forefront of formulating a ... More >>

Pros and Condoms: S.F. Emphasizes HIV Treatment, but a New Generation Advocates Bareback Sex

HIV Activist Calls Mayor Ed Lee a Name the Chronicle Would Never Print

Wonder how he feels about Jeff Sheehy ... ​In this election, Mayor Ed Lee has been called many charming names -- crooked, double-crossing, sneaky, Republican. Now he can add "dick" to that growing list of insults.    According to the Bay Area Reporter, Jeff Sheehy, who was the HIV czar f ... More >>

Angels, Resurrected

STD Alert: Cases More Prevalent Among Men Who Have Sex With Other Men

Clark says to keep your penis healthy. ​ It's time to get those Healthy Penis muppets back on the streets. The Department of Public Health is saying men who have sex with men have a much greater chance of having sexually-transmitted diseases.The city's health officials released a 45-page PowerPoin ... More >>

A Valentine's Day Fact -- STDs Are on the rise in San Francisco

Sexy time stats​Leave it to the San Francisco Public Health Department to use Valentine's Day as a way to get people to not want to have sex.Health officials decided to use this hallmark holiday to tell us the hard, cold truth about our Valentines -- they aren't so pure after all. As it turns out, ... More >>

If Facebook Tied to Syphilis -- What Diseases Linked to Other Sites?

You don't even have to leave the Internet to find syphilis on Facebook... ​According to British researchers, Facebook users get a new friend, just like MySpace users get "Tom." That friend? Syphilis. Simply put, users of the site met lots of interesting folks, "friended" them, and, Step Three, syp ... More >>

S.F clinics limiting STD tests to cut costs

Just Fantastic: $82.1 Million Cut to State's Office of AIDS

​Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today signed a state budget that will cut roughly $82.1 million from the state's Office of AIDS, says that office's chief, Dr. Michelle Roland. The state cuts promise to disproportionately hit cities like San Francisco, which is among the nation's top ... More >>

Giant, Anthropomorphic Penises All the Rage in San Francisco These Days

San Francisco Department of Public HealthThe Penismobile is a hybrid? We were sure it'd be a Jaguar XKEYou don't always say this about penises, but in San Francisco, they come in threes. First there was the walking, advice-dispensing dong featured in a locally produced health film/soap opera.Then th ... More >>

Walking Penis Highlights Local Doc's Wildly Effective STD Prevention Soap Opera

Coming soon to an STD clinic near you! The San Francisco Department of Public Health is proud to announce that Safe in the City -- a dramatic 23-minute STD prevention video developed by an SFDPH official -- has given the Centers for Disease Control a giant boner. This week, ... More >>

U Wr Gr8 Lst Nite -- BTW, Get Xamined 4 the Syphilis

The etiquette of 21st-century dating is ever-evolving. And, to those who remember the days when safe sex meant remembering to set the parking brake on your Oldsmobile, the notion of an automated, impersonal e-card informing whomever you banged last night that you exposed him or her to syphilis/crabs ... More >>

Clap On! See Where San Francisco Stands in National STD Survey

When in a city beginning with the letter "M," pack your own condoms -- or elseThe results of the Centers for Disease Control's annual survey on whether we've been naughty or nice are in again -- and there's a whole lotta shaking (and itching, burning, and blistering) going on. Educated folks can arg ... More >>

U.S. Marine Corps an Orgy Palace of Stoned, Drunk, Horny Teens, New UCSF Study Suggests

By Matt SmithWhile doomsayers bemoan America's ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, researchers at the University of California at San Francisco Medical Center may have turned up a brilliant silver lining.Thanks to desperate recruiting methods required to staff those wars, the U.S. Marines may be t ... More >>

Sunday Photos: AIDS Walk through Golden Gate Park

Cruise Control

Public health advocates want gay hookup Web sites to promote safe sex.

Pro-Circumcision AIDS Researcher Left S.F. a Pariah, Came Back a Visionary

U.S. State Department: now with HIV!

Worst E-Card. Ever.: "So, you've been itching, burning, discharging ..."

Christopher Columbus Father of Modern Syphilis

Embattled Harvey Milk Democratic Club prez Brian Basinger starts another Democratic Club

Lust for Life

Testing of a promising HIV vaccine requires volunteers who will couple for the cause

Sloganeering

For years the city has been using racy ads to sell HIV prevention. Do they work?

Radio Free Nepal

An S.F. organization is providing radios and radio programming that just may save lives a world away

Super-Hyped Infection

Sensational headlines coupled with fearmongering public health reports have HIV-positive men in San Francisco running scared. It doesn't have to be that way.

Unreality Show

The 9-11 Commission is a nutty distraction from the dangers we face

House of Tudor

Rap-metal prodigy Schäffer the Darklord plays his swan song (as if you cared).

Vicious Cycle

Federal investigators clear AIDS prevention programs of wrongdoing -- and then reinvestigate them

Disease Detective

Deborah Hayden's new book, Pox, pulls the covers off famous people with syphilis. That's right: syphilis.

Dying to Know

As a young doctor's tragic fate makes clear, a lack of information about hepatitis B has put many Asian-American lives at risk

Staying Alive

An AIDS vaccine should be our government's highest priority. So why is one researcher forced to seek funding from the War on Terrorism?

Saving Togo

One man's hope for Nigeria's tiny neighbor

Out of Africa

Some say Phyllis Kanki saved Senegal from AIDS. But can the controversial triage approach she's developing at Stanford protect the continent's western edge from the devastation suffered in the south?

Cocktail Time

New U.S. guidelines suggest that powerful anti-viral drug combinations should be used later, rather than earlier, in treating AIDS

Too Young to Die

They are the "AIDS babies." Born before doctors learned how to prevent HIV transmission to newborns, hundreds of California kids are growing up under the burden of a deadly disease.

A Day to Remember

World AIDS Day

Sticking Point

An AIDS vaccine designed by renowned researcher Don Francis is in final testing. The Plague could be over - but the gay and scientific establishments are utterly unenthused.

Private Places

Gay activists push for return of traditional bathhouses

Fighting AIDS on the Body's Own Ground

Researchers are stunned by a gland they thought dormant

Safe Haven?

Gay-bashing survivor applies for political asylum