ST: Sex education needed to counter worrying trends

22 May 2009
Straits Times

Sex education needed to counter worrying trends
Attitudes among teens are changing; more are contracting infections

By Amelia Tan

THE number of teenagers getting sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV has risen in the past few years, the Education Ministry said yesterday.

Last year, 787 teens caught STIs, more than three times the 238 cases in 2002; for HIV, the figure rose from one in 2002 to nine in 2007.

These figures, the ministry said yesterday, are a key reason its sexuality education programme is necessary.

ST: The ‘morning after’ HIV drug cocktail

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The ‘morning after’ HIV drug cocktail
It may keep virus at bay if taken in time but does not always work

By Braema Mathi, SENIOR WRITER

The 30-year-old businessman was on a working trip in Bangkok. He visited a male prostitute on his last night in the city. Against his better judgment, they had unprotected sex.

But the next morning, he was seized by panic with the sudden realisation he might have exposed himself to HIV – the retrovirus that can lead to Aids.

Upon landing in Singapore that afternoon, he headed straight for the Department of Sexually Transmitted Infections Control (DSC).

Not only did he get an Aids test, but he also asked to be prescribed post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). He had read that the cocktail of antiretroviral drugs with Zidovudine works like a ‘morning after’ HIV prevention course and may keep the virus at bay.