Back to School for Seniors?

Increased HIV infection rates among Americans over age 50 and a very different 'dating scene' faced by older Americans who find themselves divorced or widowed has lead health officials in Florida to propose sex-ed seminars for seniors. 'We encourage seniors to talk to their physicians about these things,' Jeannine Mallory, public information officer for the Pinellas County, Fla., health department, told the St. Petersburg Times. 'It's a different world than when they went to high school.' In addition to mistakenly believing that they no longer need to use condoms during sex -- because there's no risk of pregnancy -- many seniors also are unaware that they may be at risk for other sexually transmitted diseases, that oral sex poses STD risks, and that they can get immunized against hepatitis A and B, Mallory says.