There is no part of the UK that remains unaffected by HIV or other sexually transmitted infections.

Eighty percent of all infections are transmitted by direct and indirect contact.

Most of the common infections -- colds, flu, diarrhea -- you get environmentally transmitted either in the air or on surfaces you touch. I think people under-rate surfaces.

Not only does sending this reckless message contribute to the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, but it is also part of a pattern of irresponsible direct-to-consumer advertising by the drug industry.

Many countries in East Asia and the Pacific face a potentially explosive increase in new HIV infections. The only way to prevent this is to move quickly to population-wide access to the full range of life-saving services.

Life - and I don't suppose I'm the first to make this comparison - is a disease: sexually transmitted, and invariably fatal.