80% to 95% Condom Effectiveness - "there is no such thing as ‘safe sex - only ‘safer’ sex"

I was reading on the other day about the anti-contraceptive movement of “extremist” Christian organizations, when one part of the article called my attention about condom effectiveness. The other day I had seen a rate of 80% in a Brazilian health webpage but I thought it had been a mistake as in school and health brochures I had always seen a rate of 95%, which in case of AIDS is still too much of a risk. So I did a bit of research and I found some national health government webpages, reports of WHO, and so on.

It seems that they still haven’t done a condom efficacy test that has given valid and conclusive rate. But the most recent tests done on condoms’ reveal that its effectiveness may be as low as 80% (depending of the research) and even lower for other Sexual Transmitted Diseases.

It’s rather interesting to hear all AIDS organizations, health professionals, and so on, speaking of the use of condoms as the only way to prevent STD however they seem always to forget to stress that “there is no such thing as ‘safe sex - only ‘safer’ sex” as the New Zealand government states. Having sex using a condom with a one night stand, a new partner or even an unfaithful partner means that in every 100 times 5 to 20 times of those have the chance to contract AIDS (if the other is infected). “Luckily”, the % of infected people aren’t that high. However I keep on not understanding how people take chances catching a one night stand, for example, infected and that the condom fails. People don’t tend to risk doing or taking something that can mean catching a medium-term terminal disease.

Besides that fact it’s quite worrisome that there are no conclusive proofs of condoms effectiveness in preventing the transmission of STD and as some can make a person infertile (especially women as there are lots of STD in which the man only carries the disease, while the woman gets infected) if not detected or treated in time… I know that becoming infertile or HIV positive would kill my dream of being a mother, my deepest desire (AIDS also as it shortens my life span and I don’t wish to give birth to a child I’ll abandon a few years afterwards). So I suppose it's always better to know with who you are going to bed and still face the possibility that you may not be the only person going to bed with that person ;)

Anyway here are some citations of the sites I found more interesting and if you click the title you will be able to download 2 reports on condom effectiveness. And don't forget that even the highest rate, normally associate to correct usage but failure of the condom such as leaks, slip offs and rips, 95%, means you can still get pregnant and if you can get pregnant you can get infected with a STD.

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs243/en/

The most frequently cited condom effectiveness rate is for typical use, which includes perfect and imperfect use (i.e. not used at every act of intercourse, or used incorrectly). The pregnancy rate during typical use can be much higher (10-14%) than for perfect use, but this is due primarily to inconsistent and incorrect use, not to condom failure. Condom failure – the device breaking or slipping off completely during intercourse – is uncommon.

http://www.moh.govt.nz/moh.nsf/0/CAA750BDA8432F84CC25702000720012

• Individuals should decide when they are ready to have sex and should not feel pressured to have sex when they are not ready

• There is no such thing as ‘safe sex - only ‘safer’ sex

• Using condoms consistently significantly reduces the risk of catching a sexually transmitted infection

• Don’t have sex with someone who has an STI

• Many teenagers will have sex. Using a condom significantly reduces the likelihood that they will catch and transmit a sexually transmitted infection.

Cochrane Collaboration - One of the reports was done by them

'This review indicates that consistent use of condoms results in 80% reduction in HIV incidence. Consistent use is defined as using a condom for all acts of penetrative vaginal intercourse.

Because the studies used in this review did not report on the "correctness" of use, namely whether condoms were used correctly and perfectly for each and every act of intercourse, effectiveness and not efficacy is estimated.

Also, this estimate refers in general to the male condom and not specifically to the latex condom, since studies also tended not to specify the type of condom that was used. Thus, condom effectiveness is similar to, although lower than, that for contraception.'

Bulletin of the World Health Organisation

'The panel strongly cautioned the public against misinterpreting the scanty evidence.

The small number of well designed prospective studies precluded the panel from making judgments about the effectiveness of condoms in preventing other STIs; the reviews stated that the lack of data were not to be construed as evidence either supporting or denying the effectiveness of condoms.'

'Since 2000 important new evidence ...has come to light to support the effectiveness of condoms in preventing STIs in men and women. In no study has the effectiveness been 100%. Nonetheless, even partially effective interventions can have a major impact on controlling the spread of STIs in the population (36). ...Condom promotion represents an important component of comprehensive HIV-prevention and STI-prevention strategies.'

http://www.rhlibrary.com/Commentaries/htm/Dwcom.htm

http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/sex_relationships/facts/condoms.htm

Condoms are sheathes that trap the sperm when a man climaxes ('comes'). Wearing them greatly reduces the chances of pregnancy. They also provide some protection against sexually-transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV. But this protection is far from 100 per cent.