You will recall a previous podcast about preventing Neisseria gonorrhoea through an effective vaccine. Neisseria gonorrhoeae is a ubiquitous sexually transmitted bacteria that can cause both localised and systemic disease if left untreated. It may be transmitted to neonates. We also reported on a rise of the gonorrhoea incidence, as well as increasing rates of antibiotic resistance. Today we will revisit the implementation of vaccinations against gonorrhoea in the UK. Here is an exciting up-date on the advice provided by UK's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, JCVI, on using the ..read more

Today we will focus on the alternative treatments of early Syphilis. Worldwide many of us have experienced a shortage of gold standard treatment benzathine benzylpenicillin injections for syphilis. It is time we look for alternative antibiotic treatments and prevention strategies for syphilis. In conversation with Prof Jeffery Klausner, Professor of Medicine, Infectious Diseases and Public Health at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, we will discuss a new study published in the Lancet in 2024. Mitja O. et al compared oral linezolid with benzathine penicillin ..read more

In our final episode in honour of the World AIDS Day we have a conversation with Assistant Prof. Rajasuriar, who coordinates the translational research program in HIV immunology and Ageing at the Centre of Excellence for Research in AIDS (CERiA) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Today, thanks to effective HIV antiretroviral therapy, people living with HIV can live long and healthy lives. According to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2021, of the nearly 1.1 million people living with diagnosed HIV in the United States and dependent areas, over 53% were aged ..read more

Today we are honouring the World AIDS Day on 1st December in 2023, by focusing on young people who live with HIV. Adolescents and young people represent a significant share of people living with HIV worldwide. In 2022 alone, 255,000-760,000 young people between the ages of 10 to 24 were newly infected with HIV, of whom 35,000-250,000 were adolescents between the ages of 10 and 19. In conversation with Prof Natella Rakhmanina, who is a Professor of Paediatrics at the George Washington University and the Director of the HIV Program at Children's National Hospital, we will discover the pro & ..read more

In honour of World Hepatitis Day, today we focus on the Hepatitis B virus (HBV), a virus that can be transmitted through contact with infected blood and from mother to child during labour. HBV can also be transmitted sexually. It infects liver cells and causes both acute and chronic infections, which can be severe. Since HBV was discovered in 1965, we have made great progress in reducing the burden of infections and disease through prevention and antiviral treatment, but much is left to do. The World Health Organization has called for enhanced efforts along four main pathways: i) increasing aw ..read more

Neisseria gonorrhoeae, in short NG, is a ubiquitous sexually transmitted bacteria that can cause both localised and systemic disease if left untreated. NG may also be transmitted vertically from mother to baby. Over the last years, we have seen a rise in the number of people diagnosed with gonorrhoea, alongside growing rates of antibiotic resistance. New research makes us hopeful that a vaccine may soon become available to provide global, large scale benefits. In this podcast, we explore this possibility with three experts in the field: Prof Kate Seib (1), Dr Claire Dewsnap (2) and Dr Silvia N ..read more

Welcome back to the 2023 BMJ STI Podcasts. Today we will focus on the worsening Syphilis epidemic worldwide. Syphilis is a bacteria that infects humans, and is transmitted horizontally through close sexual contact and vertically to unborn babies and neonates. It can cause acute and severe illness in those affected, such as neurosyphilis, and have tragic consequences for mother and baby. With the discovery of penicillin, access to testing, and especially public health interventions such as regular testing of asymptomatic, sexually active people and routine antenatal testing, we thought we could ..read more

Today we talk about transmission, diagnosis and management of MPox. We will also review the UK community and the World Health’s Organization's perspective on this virus. Please note that after the recording of this podcast the WHO implemented a change of the name of the virus to MPox. Dr Fabiola Martin, STI's Podcast editor, interviews Dr Liesbeth Van Gestel, ID physician and clinical researcher at the Tropical Institute of Antwerp, Belgium; Mr Simon Collins, director and co-founder of HIV iBase London, UK; as well as Dr Meg Doherty, the World Health Organisation’s Director of Global HIV, Hepa ..read more

In this double-interview podcast, the Editor-in-Chief of the STI journal, Professor Anna Maria Geretti, brings you some of the highlights from the HIV Glasgow 2022 conference. In the first interview (starting at 1:00), Professor Geretti interviews Jean-Michel Molina*, who discusses HIV and STI prevention. The second interview (starting at 12:30) is with Professor Miłosz Parczewski**. They discuss the effects of the war in Ukraine on the country’s healthcare system, in particular on the prevalence of STIs. *Professor of Infectious Diseases University of Paris, France and Head of the Infectious ..read more

Today we talk with the principal investigators of the DoxyPEP trial which was prematurely terminated due to its amazing success: participants receiving a stat dose of Doxycycline 200mg in less than 72 hours after condom-less sex were 63% less likely to develop a bacterial STI compared to participants in the control arm. Prof Annie Leutkemeyer based in San Francisco (UCSF) and Prof Connie Celum, based in Seattle (WA)join Dr Fabiola Martin, STI's Podcast editor, in this short interview. Please listen to a recent podcast on the wider subject of Bacterial STIs: https://soundcloud.com/bmjpodcasts/m ..read more