The American Social Health Association has, in order to raise awareness, labeled April STD awareness month, as part of its national campaign against sexually transmitted diseases. The American Social Health Association(ASHA) of Research Triangle Park, North Carolina is a private nonprofit organization. Their activities include production and distribution of educational material on sexual health, funding research for treatments of STDs and operation of several hotlines.
The latest statistics don’t lie. We, as sexually active young adult,s are all at risk for STDs. One in five people in the United States has an STD and two-thirds of all STDs occur in people twenty five years or younger, with one in four new STD infections occurring in teenagers.
Unfortunately, contracting an STD isn’t the first thing on one’s mind before having sex. For the most part Plymouth State College students are aware, but feel that most people aren’t safe or cautious before participating in sexual activities.
When asked how important he thought regular testing was, Adam Stone, a sophomore English major, says “its pretty important [regular testing], a lot of people aren’t too safe. People should be tested, but not forced [to be tested]. It is important. Maybe they could do it at the same time you get your physical”. Kevin Kurz, Junior, Marketing, had another idea, “it depends on the person; if you’re in a monogamous relationship than you should be tested before you have sex with that person, but if you’re having sex with more than one person than you should be tested every month.”
The fact is that if you’re sleeping with more than one person once a month isn’t enough. You should be tested after every single person you sleep with, and even that isn’t ideal because some STDs, including HIV, do not show up on tests for up to one month.
In the United States, Chlamydia is the most common bacterial STD. An estimated three million people contracted the infection in 1997. In addition one out of ten adolescent females test positive for Chlamydia. Do you have Chlamydia? Are you sure? The point is if you are a sexual active person, not in a commit monogamous relationship, you might want to consider testing. Chlamydia is one of the few STDs that are treatable; your doctor can prescribe one of several antibiotics used in treating Chlamydia. Remember 75% of females and 50% of males that have Chlamydia have no symptoms.
Here are some fast facts provided to you by the ASHA
-People with Chlamydia should be tested for other STDs, for example people with Chlamydia also have Gonorrhea
-Syphilis can lead to death
-you can get an STD even if it is your “first time”
-Antibiotic treatment stops Gonorrhea infections; however, it will not repair the damage that already exists due to the infection; including infertility in men and women among other complications
Dr. Ruth Westheimer, America’s leading sex and relationship therapist, also known as Dr. Ruth, is also using STD awareness month as a platform to promote awareness. Dr. Ruth advocates for safe sex and the awareness of Genital Herpes.
Even though the initial diagnosis can be devastating, gathering accurate information and seeking emotional support from others is an important step toward managing the disease. “Genital herpes doesn’t have to be scary,” says Dr. Ruth. “People can take charge of their diagnosis by seeking support from family and friends, taking precautions by telling a partner and practicing safer sex, and, most importantly, maintaining the right attitude. People with genital herpes can and do have healthy, satisfying sex lives, and healthy babies.”
According to research from the American Health Association, Genital herpes is a contagious viral infection primarily caused by the herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) that spreads through physical skin-to-skin contact in the genital area. It can affect both men and women, causing periodic outbreaks that may appear as painful or itchy clusters of blisters, bumps and rashes in the genital area, or on the thighs or buttocks. Also depending on the situation you can also get out brakes on your face, around the mouth if infected bodily fluids are exposed to the facial areaworse than contracting Herpes through the mouth or, worse yet, the eye.
Many of people confuse symptoms of genital herpes with other conditions such as jock itch, yeast infections, insect bites and allergic reactions, so they never bring it up to their physicians. While genital herpes is not a life-threatening disease, the virus never leaves the body, making it a lifelong condition that can recur at various times with or without symptoms.
While there is no cure for herpes, patients have choices in how they manage the disease including suppressive therapy, which involves taking a prescription medicine every day to help suppress outbreaks of genital herpes before they occur, and outbreak therapy (also called episodic therapy), which involves taking a prescription medicine at the first sign of a genital herpes outbreak and treating each outbreak as it occurs. There are no treatments proven to reduce the risk of genital herpes transmission. So your choices are to use a condom once or take medication everyday for the rest of your life.
Now that you have briefly been made aware of the facts what can you do? Educating yourself is an important key in prevention. What better time than STD awareness month to do so. For online information I encourage you to go to www.iwannaknow.org or www.ashastd.org for facts, tips, and other helpful information. Or you can visit your local clinic or family doctor. Remember it is better to be safe than sorry.