True or false? Gardasil, the vaccine that protects people from certain strains of human papillomavirus (HPV), is only for females and is ineffective in males.

False! While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that 11-and 12-year-old girls get the Gardasil vaccination, males should think about taking it too! The New England Journal of Medicine just published a study funded by Merck—the maker of Gardasil—on the effectiveness of the drug in males. The study found that Gardasil was 90-percent effective at preventing genital warts and 86-percent effective at preventing persistent HPV infections. Gardasil was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for males in 2009, but hasn’t been strongly encouraged for them.

The CDC estimates that 20 million Americans are infected with HPV. The virus usually has no symptoms, so it often goes unnoticed in the carrier. HPV usually clears the body on its own and is totally harmless. But some strains, like those the Gardasil vaccine protects against, can cause cervical, penile, anal, vaginal and vulvar cancer.

Just last month, the American Academy of Pediatrics included Gardasil in their list of recommended vaccines for boys. Guys are a vital part in stopping the spread of HPV. If guys are vaccinated, then that means fewer guys will pass the strains of the virus linked to cancer to their partners.

—Colleen Tierney, 17, Staff Writer

Monadnock High School in New Hampshire banned safer-sex kits, which were made available to students by a group called AIDS Services during a World AIDS Day presentation this past December. Though the school had initially approved making the kits available to students, school officials said they didn’t known what was in them. The kits included candy, condoms and flavored lubricant, which reportedly upset parents.

I can understand that parents might be upset by being faced with the idea that some teens—perhaps even their son or daughter—are having sex. And having their children get condoms and lube at a school presentation is a painful reminder that their children might be at risk for STDs and/or pregnancy.

These parents have valid concerns, and I can understand why they wouldn’t want their kids to be having sex. But that doesn’t change the fact that some teens are having sex and need condoms to protect themselves against pregnancy and/or STDs. It’s naive for parents to think that if condoms aren’t available, such as in the safer-sex kits offered at Monadnock High School, that no teens are having sex, and consequently their teens aren’t having sex.

Not making condoms available is doing a disservice to any teen who would benefit from practicing safer sex. The more schools make condoms and lubricant readily available the better off teens will be. We would all benefit from a decrease in unplanned pregnancies and the spread of STDs.

—Taylor McCabe, 18, Contributor

We had something else to be thankful for besides family, friends and turkey this year. Just in time for Thanksgiving, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report showing that sex in the United States was noticeably in 2009. Ten percent fewer cases of gonorrhea were reported in 2009 than in 2008. And the rate of syphilis infections among women didn’t rise—something that hasn’t happened in five years.

These stats are of course great news, but I’d also like to think that they mean Americans are having safer sex in general. That could potentially mean we’ll see drops in other STDs and unplanned pregnancies for 2010. Maybe it’s just me (my university, after all, happened to rank first in Trojan’s 2010 Sexual Heath Report Card), but I feel like lower rates of STDs and unplanned pregnancy are New Year’s resolutions we might actually be able to keep.

—Meg Gibbon, 18, Contributor

Our cell phones can help us with everything from online banking to finding a restaurant in a new city. But when I heard about the latest task our mobile phones could be taking on, even I, an avid iPhone user, was shocked. A research project in Europe is currently working on creating a way for smartphones to diagnose sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

Small chips would use fluids, such as urine and saliva, to test for STDs. You would then connect the chip to your smartphone to process the results. Pretty crazy, huh? The chips are projected to cost around $3 and could be sold in vending machines or nightclubs.

The most common STD symptom is no symptom, so many people that have an STD are unaware that they have one. Unfortunately, many will also never be tested—maybe because they’re too embarrassed to make the trip to see their doctor or visit a health clinic or they are apprehensive about the results. But with these chips, there should be no more excuses! All you may have to do is stop texting for a few minutes (I know you can do it!) and test yourself quickly.

Though they may not be ready for up to 10 years, would you pick one of these up to test yourself?

—Melanie Johnson, 18, Staff Writer

You’ve seen writing on a bathroom wall that says things, like “Jenny and Jesse together forever.” But how often do you see writing that gets you thinking about something serious, like a sexually transmitted disease (STD)?

Well, a few weeks ago, I went to a concert at PNC Bank Arts Center only to find that the girls’ bathroom had posters on the stalls with facts about human papillomavirus (HPV). Some strains of HPV can cause genital warts and others are linked to an increased risk of cervical cancer. It was really great to see information about HPV. I read some of the HPV facts and then chose my bathroom stall. On the inside of the stall, there was another, smaller poster with a tip about HPV that read, “Condoms may not fully protect against HPV.” After seeing that, I then noticed the little conversation going on about the poster. Someone had written, “Suck d**k!! It’s safer!!” and then another person wrote “Not really—what about HIV?”

The conversation on the bathroom wall got me thinking, so when I got home I did some research about HPV and condoms. I found out that viruses, such as HPV or herpes, can be spread through skin-to-skin contact. That means that areas that aren’t covered by a condom during sex can leave you at risk. Also, when a condom is used correctly, it can protect you from getting HIV, which is not spread from skin-to-skin contact. In essence, using a condom does reduce your chances of getting infections, so you should always be safe and use one.

So, the next time you are thinking about writing something on a bathroom wall, make sure you know what you’re talking about, especially when it comes to important topics like STDs.

—Colleen Tierney, 17, Staff Writer