Background: Adolescence is an important period of physical, emotional and sexual development during which young people may become vulnerable to sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancy. Adequate knowledge of safe sex strategies is important; however, knowledge may not necessarily translate into appropriate sexual health practices. Objective: To assess the knowledge and practice of safe sex strategies and identify factors influencing sexual health practices among senior secondary school students at University of Benin Demonstration Secondary School, Benin City, Nigeria. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study involving 243 senior secondary school students. A stratified random sampling technique was used to select participants from SS1 to SS3. Data were collected using a structured, self-administered questionnaire assessing sociodemographic characteristics, knowledge of safe sex strategies, sexual practices and factors influencing safe sex practices. The instrument underwent face and content validation and had a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.75 following pilot testing. Data were analysed using SPSS version 26 and summarised using descriptive statistics. Results: Of the 243 respondents, 139 (57.2%) were female and 126 (51.9%) were aged 14–16 years. Overall, 201 (82.9%) respondents had good knowledge of safe sex strategies, while 124 (51.0%) had good safe sex practices. One hundred and sixty (65.8%) had attended a class on safe sex education, while 159 (65.4%) had previously heard the term “safe sex.” Sixty-nine (28.4%) respondents reported having had sexual intercourse, 149 (61.3%) reported practising abstinence, and only 60 (24.7%) had ever undergone testing for a sexually transmitted infection. Only 112 (46.1%) had discussed sexual health with a parent, teacher or health professional. Conclusion: Knowledge of safe sex strategies was high among the students, but this was not matched by a similarly high level of safe sex practice. Strengthening comprehensive school-based sexuality education, improving parent-adolescent communication and increasing access to confidential youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health services may help bridge the gap between knowledge and practice.

Introduction: Acute esophageal necrosis (AEN), or “black esophagus,” is a rare but serious condition that mainly occurs in elderly patients with vascular frailty and significant comorbidities. It is thought to result from acid injury combined with esophageal ischemia. It frequently presents with upper gastrointestinal bleeding. Diagnosis relies on esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD), which shows diffuse, circumferential black discoloration of the esophageal mucosa, predominantly distal and ending sharply at the Z-line. AEN may progress to severe complications, including esophageal stricture and perforation, and remains associated with high mortality. Case Presentation: We report the case of a 50-year-old man with alcohol-related liver cirrhosis, still actively drinking and not under medical follow-up, admitted for mild acute alcoholic pancreatitis. His course was complicated by delirium tremens in the setting of abrupt alcohol withdrawal. Clinically, he presented with blackish vomiting and melena. Laboratory tests revealed severe anemia (hemoglobin 6.3 g/dL), acute kidney injury, and severe hypokalemia requiring admission to the intensive care unit. EGD revealed grade D ulceronecrotic esophagitis according to the Los Angeles classification, without active bleeding, consistent with black esophagus syndrome. Biopsies were deferred given the acute bleeding context. Caustic ingestion was ruled out by history. The patient was managed with fluid resuscitation, parenteral nutrition, correction of fluid and electrolyte disturbances, high-dose intravenous proton pump inhibitor (PPI) therapy followed by double-dose oral PPI combined with sucralfate, and initial fasting. Follow-up EGD on day 8 showed marked improvement without esophageal stricture. The outcome was favorable, with resumption of oral feeding, continuation of PPI therapy for eight weeks, and referral to an addiction medicine clinic. Conclusion: Our case shows that early and optimal management can lead to healing of esophageal lesions. Control of comorbidities is an essential component of treatment, together with supportive resuscitative measures and combined PPI and sucralfate therapy. The outcome is often favorable, but mortality remains high owing to the frail background frequently associated with this condition.

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