A couple of years ago, the speediest quarterback the NFL has ever seen was moving in some fast company.

In its 2005 list of the 100 most powerful celebrities, Forbes Magazine ranked Michael Vick No. 33, just behind Denzel Washington and Rod Stewart, just ahead of Bette Midler and the Olsen twins.

The Atlanta Falcons quarterback had recently signed a 10-year, $130 million contract that included a $30 million bonus and had endorsement deals with Nike, Kraft, Coca-Cola, Rawlings and other companies. Vick’s potential as a marketer seemed as limitless as his potential on the field.

Two years later, Vick’s appeal is plunging, and not just because of the investigation into his possible involvement in dog fighting at a home he owned in Surry County. Even before the dogfighting case surfaced, Vick’s negatives were rising and his positive ratings falling, according to the experts who track the demographic appeal of celebrities.

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‘American idol’ winner Kelly Clarkson has admitted that she fears that an innocent kiss will result in mouth herpes.

The Grammy award winner said that she has major trust issues, and that she doesn’t just make out with people for the sake of it, for it is a waste of her time and kisses.

Clarkson added that she is also scared of ending up having ‘mouth herpes’.

“I have major trust issues. I just don’t make out with people. That’s a waste of my kisses and time. And it’s so personal. It’s like, my face. Plus, I’m afraid of mouth herpes,” the Sun quoted her, as saying.

Talking about her bitter break up with David Hodges, the former Evanescence keyboardist, she said that she actually did not even like him.

The 25-year-old added that she is mad at herself for being so ‘blind’.

“I didn’t even really like the guy. I’m more mad at myself for being so blind. Why would I pick someone like him to date? What’s wrong with me,” she said.

Tags: kelly clarkson, herpes, mouth herpes, celebrity herpes

While genital herpes in a prepubertal child raises the suspicion of sexual abuse, the current evidence is too weak to estimate the likelihood of sexual transmission of the virus, according to a report from the UK, published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.

However, the findings do suggest the probability of sexual transmission among children older than 5 years of age who have genital sores alone and those who have had the presence of the herpes simplex type 2 virus confirmed.

Dr. Richard Reading, from the University of East Anglia in Norwich, and Dr. Yifan Rannan-Eliya, from the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff, note that herpes simplex type 2 is strongly associated with sexual transmission in adults, but most cases of adult genital herpes in the UK are herpes simplex type 1, so viral typing is not definitive for sexual transmission.

The presence of oral and genital sores in a child, the investigators point out, may be caused by spread of the virus from the primary site. Also, infection may possibly occur during diaper changing by an infected adult.

The researchers came to these conclusions after they searched published reports to identify studies that investigated sexual transmission as a possible cause of genital herpes in children. Just five papers, published between 1968 and 2003, were identified.

More than half of the reported cases had evidence suggesting a sexual mode of transmission, the authors state. However, as noted, the evidence was just too weak to allow reliable estimations of risk. The papers did not describe any genital contact in much detail, and “physical findings which were taken to indicate abuse would not be seen as adequate or appropriate now.”

Reading and Ranna-Eliya conclude, “A larger, methodologically robust and more up-to-date study of children presenting with genital herpes is required in order to be more certain of the implications in a child who is not mature enough to engage in consensual sexual relations.”

SOURCE: Archives of Disease in Childhood, July 2007.

Tags: genital herpes, sexually transmitted diseases, childhood diseases