Frog in the throat no bull this time

[Jack_Maehoffer]

If iugulan neisseria gonorrhea sounds like a mouthful, it should, because that's literally what it is.

And it's a fairly unpleasant mouthful, too, because iugulan neisseria gonorrhea is the Latin term used to describe a case of the clap that breaks out in the throat.

And it's just one of the hitherto rarely seen venereal diseases spreading rapidly in Japan because condom use at the country's many sex services is less than 15 percent, according to Shukan Asahi (9/9).

"At brothels where intercourse is prohibited, the main form of service performed is fellatio without wearing a condom, which has led to the spread of new sexually transmitted diseases like gonorrhea of the throat and chlamydia of the throat," Nozomi Mizushima, a member of the sex workers' union Sex Work and Sexual Health (SWASH), tells Shukan Asahi. "Japan's oral sex services are more advanced than anywhere else on Earth where paid intercourse is forbidden and this has led to the outbreak of irregular strains of sexually transmitted diseases."

During the Asia-Pacific Aids Conference in Kobe during July, SWASH released the results of a survey it had carried out among 15 massage parlors across Japan and discovered that condoms were used when oral sex was performed only 15 percent of the time.

"More than 70 percent of the women surveyed said they wanted their clients to use a condom, but because the customer or brothel operator didn't want that, they were unable to use the protective devices," SWASH's Mizushima says. "It's a sad fact that many sex workers are desperately in need of money for things like debt repayment or tuition, or simply just to survive, and they're being forced to work reluctantly under such conditions."

Sex workers attest to Mizushima's claims.

"My friend got a dose of chlamydia, but who she got it off and when she got it, nobody knows," a 19-year-old sex worker tells Shukan Asahi. "There's rarely a customer who will ask us to put on condom on them before we work. So we always do it 'raw.' I'm scared of venereal disease, but I've got to do it for the money. As long as I'm doing this sort of work, there's always a chance I'll pick up some sort of venereal disease and if I do, I'll just get it treated."

It's not always as easy as that, however, and rates of sexually transmitted diseases, including the deadly AIDS and potential cancer-causing human papiloma virus.

"According to the latest report from the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, condom use reaches almost 100 percent at sex services in Thailand and Cambodia, where the government requires customers to use condoms. Japan trails even the Philippines and Nepal, where condom use reaches 30 percent and 54 percent, respectively," Mizushima tells Shukan Asahi. "Sex workers like us have got to change things from the inside by encouraging customers and brothel owners to help us be able to work without continuing to contract sexually transmitted diseases." (By Ryann Connell)

September 2, 2005