Infertility

"We urgently need to research a number of issues in addition to those already mentioned," said Dr Glaser."Factors to be considered include the patient's physical, mental and social maturity, their vulnerability associated with a diagnosis of a life-threatening disease, and the potential for long-term reproductive problems arising from cancer and its therapy to impact on their self-esteem, relationships and other social interactions.

There are specific problems associated with sperm banking; for instance, consent forms that may be incomprehensible for adolescents and which raise the issue of what should happen to stored sperm if the patient should die – a frightening subject for any teenager to be confronted with."These are all highly emotive subjects that need to be handled with great sensitivity."Professor Sophie Fosså, an oncologist who specialises in...

The health department reported that African-American teenagers 15 to 19 years are experiencing a more than 100 percent increase in the rate of gonorrhea infections, compared with 2004.

Among 20- to 24-year-olds the rate of gonorrhea increased by more than 90 percent since 2003.

In 2005, African-American women in San Francisco experienced 12 times the rate of gonorrhea infection than white women.

About 7 percent of San Franciscans are African-American, but more than 50 percent of gonorrhea occurs among African Americans, according to the health department.

Pennan Barry, a medical epidemiologist with San Francisco STD Prevention and Control Services said the Department of Public Health "is concerned about this increase in gonorrhea.

We want to make sure that people who are at risk for gonorrhea are tested, and that people who test positive and their partners are treated promptly.'' A team from the department will be talking to young heterosexuals to try to find out what sort of risk factors might be contributing to the increase in gonorrhea cases.

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