KUALA LUMPUR: The sale of condoms in South Korea has risen five-fold after fans celebrated their football team winning in the opening World Cup game against Greece.

The game on June 12 saw about a million red-shirted fans nationwide, including 200,000 in Seoul, crowd boulevards, stadiums and parks to cheer the side’s 2-0 win over Euro 2004 champions Greece, reports the New Strait Times.

According to the JoongAng Daily, convenience stores and fried chicken outlets were doing brisk business, and the Bokwang Family Mart chain stores saw a near doubling of sales as fans took to the streets.

Stores in residential areas also did well, as those tuning in at home bought three times the beer and more than twice the number of snacks.

It also said after the game, fans in celebratory mood bought five times more condoms than during the team’s lacklustre 2006 World Cup performance.

-(TimeofIndia.com)

People who use lubricants during anal sex are three times as likely to contract a rectal infection than those who don’t, putting them at much higher risk of contracting STDs and HIV, according to a new UCLA study. New research also shows HIV transmission is nearly 20 times higher in unprotected anal sex than unprotected vaginal sex.

The study, which took place between 2006 and 2008 with nearly 900 men and women participating, found that 229 men and 192 women said they have partaken in receptive anal sex in the past year. About half said they used lubricants, and the majority of participants who used lubes had contracted STDs. Not good.

Meanwhile, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh studied the six most popular brands of lubricants used for anal sex. Five water-based lubes-Astroglide, Elbow Grease, ID Glide, KY Jelly and PRE-and one condom-safe silicon-based-Wet Platitum-were tested. Research found that water-based lubes draw water out of cells, weakening and even killing the cells. Some of the tested products also weakened or destroyed the surface of epithelial cells, which act as a sort of protective cover in the mouth, nose, and rectum. The safest of the six lubricants were Wet Platiunum and PRE, while the most harmful appeared to be Astroglide and KY Jelly.

The effects of lubricant in anal sex is a topic that hasn’t been studied very much-the study out of Pittsburgh is the first to ever examine the effects of lubricants in anal sex-but the International Microbicides Conference is putting out the call for more research.

“We know we can’t make any conclusions based on this one small study,” Marc-Andre LeBlanc of the IMC said in a news release. “Further research is absolutely necessary to understand the potential role of sexual lubricants in HIV transmission. We should be able to provide consumer guidance regarding lubes that are found to be safer than others.” Currently there’s not enough research to do so.

This is obviously disheartening for men who have sex with men-90% of which, gay or not, say they have participated in receptive anal sex. More men say they use lubricants than condoms, increasing the risks of transmitting STDs and HIV substantially.

-(queersight)

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Sexual health charities are warning England football fans heading to South Africa – which has one of the worst Aids and HIV rates in the world – to take care.

With its new football stadiums, expensive hotels and sandy beaches, South Africa may look like any other tourist hotspot welcoming visitors this summer.

The country has poured 33bn rand (£2.9bn) into preparations for the 2010 World Cup, but behind the glistening new buildings lies the other side of South Africa – deprived townships, high levels of crime and health problems.

According to Avert, an Aids charity based in Horsham, West Sussex, an estimated 5.7 million people were living with HIV and Aids in South Africa in 2009 – a higher number than in any other country.

Charities are warning football fans travelling to South Africa to make sure they do not put their own sexual health at risk.

The London-based Terrence Higgins Trust surveyed 454 British 18 to 34 year olds and found one in ten admitted drinking so much alcohol while watching sporting events that they could not remember what they did afterwards.

The sexual health charity has published a World Cup guide to football fans on its website to help prevent the spread of infections both abroad and in the UK during the tournament.

Jason Warriner, clinical director at the trust, said: “When people go on holiday their behaviour pattern is very different to back home.

“People sometimes drink more than usual or use social drugs – opportunities may arise and they may not make the judgement call like they usually do.

“We are urging people to take condoms with them – have fun but look after yourself.”

Earlier this year, the UK government donated £1m to South Africa to buy 42m condoms as the nation prepared for the World Cup and the influx of visitors.

New football stadiums have been built to host World Cup matches

The UK’s All Party Parliamentary Group on Aids, HIVsport, which raises awareness of sexual health during sporting events, and the Foreign Office has launched advice website Keep a Clean Sheet.

It warns that large sporting events often lead to an increase in sexually transmitted infections.

Veronica Oakeshott, policy advisor to the group, said: “We are concerned that there will be fans going out there who are going to get drunk, be very over-excited and be approached by very lovely-looking women who do not look like prostitutes and may take risks that they will later regret.”

Making money

With the world’s spotlight on South Africa throughout the tournament and with some 450,000 tourists expected to pile into the country, there is money to be made.

All industries in the country will be looking forward to profiting from the event – and prostitutes will be no exception.

“A lot of these women will be infected (with HIV or Aids),” said Annabel Kanabus, director of Avert. “They will have other things as well.

“A lot of these people are not particularly choosing to live that sort of life – they are living it because they have to live it.

“It’s an opportunity to make money.”

There are fears that prostitution, which is illegal in South Africa, will thrive during the World Cup, with prostitutes flocking to the country from elsewhere in the world.

But Marlise Richter, a member of the women’s sector of the South African National Aids Council, said she did not expect a significant increase in sex workers on the streets.

“There has been a lot of sensationalism about the increase in sex workers and trafficking,” she said, adding that she was more concerned about how police will deal with prostitutes during the tournament.

She said the demand and supply of sex workers would be monitored and added that a lot of work had been done in the run-up to the World Cup to educate people in South Africa about safe sex.

-(BBC News)