A Brief History of the Condom
Saturday, October 11, 2003
http://www.thisdayonline.com/
Men have always had a love-hate relationship with the condom. Effective as it is, there have been complaints about them dulling the pleasurable sensations of lovemaking. It has been likened to taking a shower while wearing a raincoat, or trying to scratch your feet while wearing boots. But men just don't realise how lucky they are to be sexually active in this day and age. Read on and find out what our predecessors had to go through!
Folklore has it that a certain "Dr. Condom" invented the condom for King Charles II in the 17th century. This is a myth, the name probably derives from the Latin "condus", meaning receptacle. The earliest condoms were made out of fabric and worn by Egyptians, as far back as 1,000 B.C., as protection from insect bites as well as disease. (I have no information on why their privates were at risk of insect bites but I guess they had not invented underpants at the time.)
The earliest evidence of condom use in Europe comes from scenes in cave paintings at Combarelles in France, dating the primitive prophylactic at about 100 AD.
We have to thrust forward in time to the 16th century for the first known published description of research into prophylactic condom use. Gabrielle Fallopius, an Italian, tested a linen sheath on hundreds of men and none of them became infected with Syphilis. It was only later that the usefulness of the condom for the prevention of pregnancy was recognised!
Spermicides were invented soon after, the linen sheaths were impregnated with, or perhaps one should say soaked in, chemicals, making them even more effective against impregnation.
In the 18th century animals entered the equation. No, not sexual perversions, this was when condoms made out of animal intestines,
usually sheep, were invented. This 'new technology' was expensive and the condoms were therefore often reused to save money. They were quite effective though they had quite a negative effect on the pleasure for the man, being described at the time as "an armour against pleasure".
Lovers had to wait until the 19th century, 1844 to be exact, for the rubber condom. It was developed shortly after the creation of vulcanized rubber in the 1840's by Messrs Goodyear and Hancock. Vulcanisation is a method of rendering crude rubber more elastic. Condoms have subsequently been manufactured with latex since the 1930's. In the 1990s the first polyurethane condom also became available.
About 10 billion condoms are made annually all over the world.
Making Latex Condoms
Latex is drawn off rubber trees as a liquid. In the factory, glass moulds are dipped into the liquid latex, where they become thinly covered in the rubber. The
mould is baked and the latex hardens. The moulds are dipped again to take on a further layer. The ends are manipulated to create the thicker material at the open end of the condom. The condoms are then removed from the moulds and washed and dried to ensure that they are clean and smooth.
Sample checks are carried out, including tensile tests for strength. Random samples are subjected to water tests, which involve filling with 330 ml of water, prior to a check for leakage.
The condoms are then lubricated, and packed for sale. Lubricants used include Nonoxynol-9, which is proven to to be effective as a spermicide and, in clinical tests, it has been shown to neutralise the HIV virus. Non spermicidal condoms use a medical silicone lubricant.
=============================
Students, Most Exposed to HIV/AIDS - Research
By Chinwe Megafu
October 10, 2003
http://www.thisdayonline.com/
A research by Dr. B.O. Olley of the Department of Psychology, University of Ibadan on the use of condom among students has shown that sexually active youths are aversed to the use of condom.
The study, which sampled students at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Arts of the university also revealed that students are most prone to HIV/AIDS.
According to the researcher, the study population which comprised 262 (62.1 per cent) males and 160 (37.9 per cent) females with a mean age of 24.1 years (SD = 4.5) and mean educational level of 17.36 years (SD = 5.8) showed that 422 students (representing 55.2per cent) were sexually active within three months before the study.
He said 77 per cent of students reported ever using a condom, 89 per cent of females reported condom use by a partner, while 70 per cent of males had used condoms during sex with a partner. On the frequency of use, more males (30 per cent) than females (11per cent) had
never used condom.
The report indicated that the majority of sexually active university students in the study do not use condom although the females reported greater consistency of use of condom when compared to the males.
Condom use behaviour in this sample did not differ markedly from other college student sampled. The attitude shows a greater exposure to HIV/AIDS.
Consequently, in a different study, Dr. Sylvia Bolanle Adebajo, Department of Community Health, Lagos University Teaching Hospital delved on attitudes of Health Care Providers to Persons Living With HIV/AIDS in Lagos State. She examined the knowledge, beliefs and attitudes of nurses and laboratory technologists towards people afflicted with the disease and the factors responsible for the attitudes.
She said that information that was elicited from 254 randomly selected nurses and laboratory technologists from 15 government owned health facilities in the state with the use of a structured
questionnaire, indicated that most of the respondents (96.3 per cent) had moderate to good knowledge of HIV/AIDS.
Adebajo noted that respondents level of knowledge was influenced by the level of formal education attained, length of practice, gender and attendance at refresher courses on HIV/AIDS. Age, occupation and religion did not significantly influence their level of knowledge.
The study noted that attitude towards PLWA was poor. Some (55.9 per cent) of the health workers felt that PLWAs are responsible for their illness, while 35.4 per cent felt that they deserve the punishment for their sexual misbehaviours.
Only 52.8 per cent of the respondents expressed willingness to work in the same office with a PLWA, while only 18.0 per cent would accept to visit or encourage their children to visit a PLWA.
"It is, therefore, essential that health care providers be properly informed in order to improve their quality of care for PLWAs", she said.
However, basic science research and active involvement of developing countries are regarded as keys to terminating the devastation of the pandemic. Experts informed it is necessary as the solution to the pandemic will take several years despite advances in drugs and therapeutic method asserted by leading scientists at the 2003 International Meeting of the Institute on Human Virology in United States.
At the meeting, more than 500 of the world's leading AIDS researchers gathered to discuss basic clinical and latest scientific advances.
Robert Gallo, head of Institute for Human Virology and who co-discovered that the HIV was the cause of AIDS, asserted that never again should capacity to solve a new emerging plague, and the developing world left behind. This same sentiment was shared by Luc Montagnier the French co-discoverer, Max Essex of Harvard AIDS Institute and co-discoverer of HIV 2 and other eminent scientists. According to report made available to
THISDAY, the meeting known as 'Titled Global Research for Global Eradication', was viewed as one of the greatest assemblage in recent times of leading scientists in the area of HIV/AIDS research. The advances made in the study of AIDS and HIV owe much to the knowledge gained about ATL (Adult T-cell Leukemia) and HTLV-1 (Human T-lymphocyte Virus type 1), he said.
