Dear Agony Aunt My friend is very upset. Her boyfriend has told her that he thinks she has got warts in her private areas. She is very embarrassed and shy about this problem and doesn’ t know where to go for help. What shall I tell her to do? From concerned friend.
Dear Concerned friend, Your friend is obviously very worried and upset by this. Who wouldn’t be? It’s not nice being told by your lover that you have a sexually transmitted infection. The reality is however that she may NOT have genital warts and it could be something completely harmless or nothing at all. You need to encourage your friend to book an appointment to see a nurse or doctor to have a sexual health check. She does not have to tell the receptionist what the appointment is for and as all the information is strictly confidential you can reassure her that no one will find out. People come in and out of the Health and Counselling Centre for all kinds of different things so she need not feel shy or embarrassed as no one will know the reason she is attending. Genital warts, however, are a bit of a nuisance for young sexually active people. It is estimated that at least 75 per cent of adults having sexual intercourse will have a genital wart virus infection at some time of their life, most commonly between 18 and 28 years of age. So as you can see it’s pretty out there. Great news on the horizon though. The recently available Cervical Cancer (HPV) vaccination, since its introduction in 2007, has shown in some studies a 50 per cent reduction in genital warts in women less than 28 years old. So as well as
protecting you against cervical cancer it’s also helping to prevent the spread of genital warts. Now that’s got to be good. Genital warts are spread through sexual activity. This includes penetrative sex, foreplay, the use of sex toys or simply rubbing against each other’s genital areas can pass on the virus. The more partners, the higher the risk of getting the virus. Most people who have an infection are not aware of it (subclinical infection), and some may have warts without knowing it. Warts may be hidden (for example inside the vagina). It may be difficult to be sure which lumps are warts and which are normal. Warts are seldom painful, so may not be noticed. The period between getting the virus and developing warts varies, and can make it impossible to know when you were infected. Often, warts will appear three to six months after exposure. Sometimes periods of many months, or even decades, have been reported before warts appear. For this reason it can be tricky explaining to your partner why you have warts especially if you have been faithful to you partner throughout your relationship. This is often very distressing for both partners, especially for partners in long term relationships who feel that some recent infidelity must be to blame. Reassuringly, evidence for such delayed symptoms (i.e. visible warts) is continually growing. No one knows for sure how long after having warts you will remain infective, especially as it is difficult to tell whether you have warts at all. Practicing safe sex will offer some protection against the wart virus. However, you can still get the virus from skin on skin contact in the area surrounding the penis, vagina and anus, which is not protected by a condom. Condoms protect against most other sexually transmitted infections. Free condoms are available at Health Counselling and Wellbeing situated in WB219 city campus and AS104 North Shore campus. To book an appointment to see a nurse or doctor call 921-9998 North Shore campus or 921-9992 for City campus.
For more information on sexually transmitted infections contact Health Counselling and Wellbeing, phone 921-9992 / 921-9998 Family Planning Association on 0800 FPA LINE, or:
website of the
www.fpanz.org.nz
www.hpv.org.nz
www.sexfiles.co.nz
week
Sorority Life
(Facebook app) by Jess Cann
This is more like Facebook application of the week. Sorority Life is just the most addictive and ridiculous thing I have ever played. Ever. You make a character, which is usually dressed quite slut-like, name it, buy it however many boyfriends you want for it, organise social events for your sorority, recruit others and fight bitches. Yes, fight bitches. You fight other girls from different sororities in order to win influence points and money and they usually pay out really well. I wasted an entire weekend of my holidays playing this application on Facebook and by the end of the weekend I had $3 million, a pretty awesome-looking slutty avatar and seven members of my sorority house. Did I do any of my assignments? No. So I don’t think anyone should play this game if they have assignments due, because it sucks up all your time.
26
Shazam for
iPhone
by Lynda Brendish My best friend likes to call Shazam “witchcraft”, because how else could it work? Logical explanations aside, Shazam divines exactly what song you’re listening to after hearing only thirty seconds. Basically - a song plays, you let Shazam hear it (via the headphone set if you have a Touch), and boom goes the dynamite, Shazam tells you what it is, who performed it, and gives handy links to buy it on iTunes. Useful when you keep hearing that one song over and over, but don’t know the name and its driving you crazy. Downsides: You need to be connected to the internet or have 3G access to use it, otherwise the song will be stored until you do have a connection. The free version only allows five songs per month.