TUESDAY, Nov. 11 (HealthDay News) -- Six out of every 10 middle-aged Britons do not use a condom during a first-time sexual encounter, a new study shows.

Those numbers might be similar for Americans, one expert said. "Data in the U.S. are likely comparable and, given prevailing policies with regard to contraception, may be worse," said Dr. David L. Katz, director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn.

In fact, U.S. rates of all STDs, including HIV, have been increasing with an estimated 19 million new cases each year and more than 1 million people living with HIV. Almost half of the new cases of STDs are among people 15 to 24, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But older adults are at risk, too. "Often it's assumed that sexually transmitted infections are just increasing among young people, but U.K. surveillance data shows that sexually transmitted infection diagnosis rates are on the increase among all age groups in the U.K.," said Catherine Mercer, the study's lead researcher and a lecturer at the Centre for Sexual Health & HIV Research at University College London.

Most Britons engaging in unprotected sex are in their 30s and 40s and in relationships where there is an age difference of five or more years, according to the report, which was published in the Nov. 12 online edition of the International Journal of Epidemiology.

"Low rates of condom use among those starting partnerships in their 30s and 40s means that they too are at great risk of sexual infections," Mercer said.

For the study, Mercer's group collected data on more than 11,000 men and women who participated in the second British National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles. The survey included questions on recent partnerships, condom use and how soon after meeting they had sex.

Among all the people surveyed, almost 9,600 reported having heterosexual sexual partners in the past 12 months. More men (39.1 percent) than women (20 percent) said that these relationships were "not regular," the researchers reported.

More women (55.2 percent) than men (38.9 percent) said their partnerships were marriages, or involved living together with the partner. Men reported having sex sooner after a first date than women. One in five men said they had sex within 24 hours after meeting their partner compared with one in 10 women.

Over all age groups, condoms were used by 55.3 percent of the partners during their first sexual encounter. However, the rate of condom use declined with advancing age. For example, among 16- to 19-year-olds, 68 percent of males and 67.4 percent of females used a condom during a first sexual encounter, while among 35- to 44-year-olds only 38.1 percent of men and 28.8 percent of women used a condom.

In addition, in relationships where there was an age difference of five years or more, 60.8 percent were unlikely to use a condom during a first sexual encounter, compared with 44.1 percent of partners who were closer in age.

According to Mercer, rates of STDs are increasing in the U.K. In fact, the Health Protection Agency found a 6 percent increase in the number of new STDs in 2007 compared with 2006.

Additional research found that in one area of England, the rate of STDs more than doubled between 1996 and 2003.

"Everyone starting a new sexual relationship, regardless of age, should use condoms and continue to do so, until they and their partner have both been tested for sexually transmitted infections," Mercer said.

People ignore condoms at their peril, Katz added.

"Consistent use of condoms is the most reliable way of preventing HIV transmission next to abstinence, and is effective in preventing other transmissible diseases and unintended pregnancy as well," Katz said.

The lack of condom use by mature adults in the British study is noteworthy and disturbing, Katz said. "These are likely people who know about condoms and can get them. There is clearly a need to better educate men and women about the hazards of unprotected sex, and the advantages of condom use. Easy access to condoms should be a priority as well," he said.

More information

For more on STDs, visit the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 12 (HealthDay News) -- When it comes to premature birth rates, the United States rates a "D," and 18 states plus Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia get failing grades.

That's the sobering conclusion of the March of Dimes' first annual Premature Birth Report Card, released Wednesday. Not a single state earned an "A." Only one -- Vermont -- received a "B," and 23 states were given a "D."

The report card was released on the sixth annual Prematurity Awareness Day, which is meant to draw attention to premature birth, which affects more than 530,000 babies each year in the United States. Premature birth (before 37 weeks' gestation) is the leading cause of newborn deaths and a major cause of lifelong ills such as cerebral palsy, blindness, hearing loss, learning disabilities, asthma and other chronic conditions.

"It is unacceptable that our nation is failing so many preterm babies. We are determined to find and implement solutions to prevent preterm birth, based on research, best clinical practices, and improved education for moms," March of Dimes President Dr. Jennifer L. Howse said in a news release from the nonprofit organization.

The group urged people to sign the 2008 Petition for Preemies, to send a message to federal and state lawmakers to take action on the issue.

For the report card, the March of Dimes compared actual preterm birth rates to the national Healthy People 2010 objective of lowering the preterm birth rate to 7.6 percent of all live births. The U.S. preterm birth rate was 12.7 percent in 2005, the most recent year for which statistics are available.

Since 1990, the preterm birth rate in the United States has risen about 20 percent, and preterm births cost the nation more than $26 billion a year, according to a 2006 Institute of Medicine report.

In addition to state rankings, the report card also analyzed several factors that contribute to preterm birth -- including smoking and uninsured women of childbearing age -- and prevention measures.

The report calls for:

• Increased federal support for prematurity-related research to learn more about the causes of premature birth and to develop strategies for prevention, along with improved care and outcomes for preterm infants.
• Voluntary reviews by hospital leaders of all Caesarean-section births and inductions of labor that occur before 39 weeks' gestation, in an effort to reverse the nation's rising preterm birth rate. The review should ensure that all C-sections and inductions meet established professional guidelines.
• Policymakers to improve access to health coverage for women of childbearing age and to support smoking-cessation programs as part of maternity care.
• Businesses to create workplaces that support mother and infant health, such as providing private areas to pump breast milk, access to flextime, and information on how to have a healthy pregnancy and childbirth.

"Employers can play a key role in helping their employees and dependents have healthy babies and healthy families. The March of Dimes' Premature Birth Report Card provides guidance on best practices that can help any size business," Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health, said in the news release.

More information

To view the full report, visit the March of Dimes  .

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 12 (HealthDay News) -- A method of "rescuing" immune cells exhausted from fighting HIV infection has been discovered by American and Canadian researchers.

They found that a molecule called Tim-3 is present at high levels in poorly functioning immune cells worn out from combating HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Blocking the activity of Tim-3 improved the function of these cells, so that they could jump back into the fight against HIV infection, said the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and University of Toronto researchers.

"In the typical course of HIV infection, an initial burst of very high levels of the HIV virus is brought partially under control by the infected person's immune system, specifically by an immune system cell called a CD8+ killer T-cell. In the majority of cases without antiretroviral drug treatment, the immune system is eventually overwhelmed, and progression to AIDS occurs," co-principal author Brad Jones, a doctoral candidate in immunology at the University of Toronto, said in a news release about the study.

In a group of HIV-infected patients, the researchers observed that Tim-3 expression on CD8+ T-cells was associated with clinical parameters of HIV disease progression. This led them to believe that manipulation of the Tim-3 pathway may provide a new approach to HIV treatment.

To test their theory, they developed a molecule that blocks the Tim-3 signal and studied its effect on CD8+ T-cells in the laboratory. They found that blocking the Tim-3 pathway rescued the immune cells and restored their ability to fight infection.

The study was expected to be published in the Nov. 24 issue of the Journal of Experimental Medicine.

"We still do not know how the virus triggers Tim-3 or if this is restricted to HIV infection, but our findings may provide a new direction to vaccines and therapies that will potentially reverse these dysfunctional cells and allow them to control HIV-1 replication," co-principal author Lishomwa Ndhlovu, of the division of experimental medicine at UCSF, said in the news release.

"Our hope is this will enable those infected with HIV to turn the tide in the long battle between the immune system and HIV. Future studies which block Tim-3 signaling in animal models of chronic viral infection will help to evaluate the therapeutic potential of this approach," Jones added.

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has more about HIV/AIDS.

FRIDAY, Oct. 31 (HealthDay News) -- A simple mouth rinse can spot specific types of human papillomavirus, some of which cause genital warts and increase the risk of developing certain types of cancer, new research shows.

The study, published in the Nov. 1 issue of Clinical Cancer Research, reaffirms that people exposed to human papillomavirus (HPV-16), the variant that causes cervical cancer, are more likely to develop cancers of the head and neck.

The researchers followed 135 patients with head and neck cancer over five years, and found that the patients with HPV-16 positive tumors were far more likely to test positive for oral HPV-16 infections before, during, and after therapy.

Although past research has shown a strong association between cancers of the head and neck and HPV-16 infection, these researchers used genetic sequencing to confirm the link between HPV-16 infection and HPV-16 shed by tumors in patients with head and neck cancers. Patients with HPV-16 positive tumors were also more likely to test positive for all types of the virus.

"Most of the 50 percent of people who get an HPV infection at some point in their lives clear it with no problem," said study co-author Dr. Maura Gillison, an associate professor of oncology at Johns Hopkins. "The question is, how do we identify those who will have a problem from the infection with those who will not?"

Although the vaccine Gardasil has been shown to offer protection against HPV infection and thus reduce the incidence of cervical cancer, efforts to vaccinate young girls have been controversial. Some believe vaccinating young girls may encourage premarital sex or promote risky sexual behavior.

But the link between HPV infection and cancers of the head and neck has prompted many researchers to advocate vaccinating boys as well as girls. "In the future, vaccinating all young women between the ages of 9 and 26 would reduce oral cancer if HPV is indeed the cause," said Dr. Mark Werner, an obstetrician/gynecologist at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Mich. "Maybe at some point, men or young boys will be vaccinated as well."

The study concluded that a noninvasive oral rinse may help researchers understand how different variants of the virus impact the development, outcome, and recurrence of different cancers.

"Can we use HPV oral detection for screening purposes to identify people who are at risk for this type of cancer?" asked Gillison. "The broader implications are that these can be applied to other studies."

More information

Find out more about HPV at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.