Condoms Prevent More Than Pregnancy, HIV

Adding new evidence to the value of safe sex, researchers are suggesting that condoms do more than prevent pregnancy and protect people from AIDS.

According to a new study of clients at a sexually transmitted disease clinic in Colorado , people who consistently used condoms got fewer cases of gonorrhea and chlamydia than those who used them only occasionally. Condoms also prevented transmission of genital herpes in men and possibly in women, too.

The research came out before the American Social Health Association announced this week that 45 percent of young Americans surveyed don't use protection during vaginal intercourse.

Condoms "aren't as effective as someone being abstinent or mutually faithful," said study co-author Dr. Judith Schlay, an attending physician at Denver Public Health. "But if a person is going to put themselves at risk for STDs, [condoms] are a very important strategy to reduce their risk."

While public health advocates have long promoted condom use, researchers disagree over their effectiveness against most sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). A major federal study failed to find evidence that they protected against anything more than pregnancy, HIV infection and, in men, gonorrhea transmission, Schlay said.

In her study, Schlay and colleagues examined the medical records of about 74,000 people -- females and heterosexual males -- who made 126,000 visits to a Colorado health clinic from 1990 to 2001. About 60 percent of the patients were men, and large percentages were black and Latino.

More than half reported using condoms at least once over the previous four months, but only 16 percent said they used condoms consistently.

However, those in that last group had better sexual health. Compared to those who used condoms now and then, men who used condoms consistently were 13 percent less likely to get gonorrhea; women were 29 percent less likely. The numbers were 34 and 26 percent for men and women, respectively, for chlamydia, a potentially serious STD.

Women were 13 percent less likely to get trichomoniasis, an infection that causes vaginal irritation, and men were 27 percent less likely to become infected with genital herpes. Among women, researchers found "a trend in the right direction" toward lower genital herpes rates, Schlay said, but the statistics weren't as clear-cut as they were for men.

Condom use didn't appear to affect the rates of two other health risks -- genital warts and moluscum, which causes genital bumps. Those ailments are often transmitted through exposure to areas of the body that aren't covered by a condom, Schlay said.

The findings appear in the March 2004 issue of the journal Sexually Transmitted Diseases .

The American Social Health Association, which advocates safe-sex practices, cautions that people must learn to use condoms consistently and correctly, said Charles Ebel, senior director of health policy. He added that much of the news coverage of condoms fails to note their value as a form of "secondary prevention."