The recent World AIDS Day has brought STDs and the repercussions of unprotected sex into the sexual consciousness of notoriously blithe university students. Despite countless safe sex campaigns since the advent of AIDS, recent statistics show that people might not be taking the warnings to heart.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) determined that the syphilis rate in the United States increased for the second consecutive year, with some major cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and Miami seeing the bulk of the increase. The spread of the disease, according to the CDC, has been dominantly among gay and bisexual men.
According to the CDC, an 85.2 percent increase occurred among non-Hispanic white men, a 35.6 percent increase in Latino men, while the percentage of African American men contracting syphilis showed a decrease.
Aside from being an indicator that people are not practicing safe sex, public health officials fear the syphilis outbreak will become a gateway for new HIV infections, as syphilis sores provide a direct route to the blood stream, making HIV infection more probable.
Nicholas Rao, a senior media study major and member of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Alliance (LGBTA), offers his opinion on why infection rates are growing.
"People are not educated in the fact that they need to protect themselves; if you don't know about (diseases), there is nothing you can do about it."
Though the syphilis outbreak is primarily in the gay population, it may be an indicator of trends among heterosexuals as well.
It may be difficult to believe that, in a society that dedicates an entire day to STD awareness and has warnings and depictions of the ramifications of unprotected sex, some sexually active individuals are still uneducated in disease prevention, but officials say this is not entirely uncommon.
Melissa Kleinman, a counseling supervisor for the Sexuality Education Center, said people are not always aware of proper practices for protection against STDs.
"Options for protection are very effective when people use them accurately and correctly," said Kleinman.
According to a health communication specialist for the CDC, who prefers to remains anonymous due to an employment stipulation, there has been no clear reason or indicator of contributors to the syphilis outbreak.
"We are watching trends closely to determine the increase; watching the trend could provide preventions," said the health communication specialist.
One health official offers his opinion on the possible causes of the outbreak.
"We're dealing with a new generation that hasn't seen the same kind of death and destruction and an older generation that has tired of the challenge it takes to be careful. And we're going to have to figure out a new strategy in this context," stated Jean Flatley McGuire, former director of Massachusetts's HIV/AIDS Bureau, in an online publication of the National Coalition of STD Directors.
Some students believe the university environment might not be conducive to staying STD-free.
"People don't think they can catch diseases," said Marc Einerman, a senior business major. "Once people find out they have something in common, like going to the same school, they think they are immune to any sort of disease."
According to Kleinman, another reason for the increase in STD infections is the widespread use of birth control; once the risk of pregnancy is removed, young people might be more inclined to partake in unprotected sex.
"There has been a 400 percent increase in Erie County of syphilis," said Kleinman.
According to the CDC specialist, there has been a 40 percent increase of chlamydia and gonorrhea, predominantly among females 15 to 19 years old and males 20 to 24 years old. Even with large-scale prevention and awareness campaigns, 7000 people a day are being infected by HIV, mostly people between the ages of 10 and 24. This averages to nearly two people every hour, and most of these people are contracting the disease sexually.
"There are many programs all over to help awareness of STDs," said the health communication specialist. "There are family foundations, CDC informational provides a regional hotline, and different organizations do different things."
College students, who are among the demographic of people most often infected, believe more of an effort can be made to increase awareness.
Jessica Grun, a sophomore communication major, said she does not get a strong sense of STD awareness on campus.
"There is not that much awareness on campus. There is like one week of information during the year I guess, but that is not enough," she said.
Amanda Moccaldi, a senior health and human services major, agreed that there is not much awareness on campus, but individual
"It is not that people do not know about STDs, it's that people get drunk and stupid and do not take time to think about the consequences," said Moccaldi.
Some students are of the opinion that people are very aware of what they do when they have unprotected sex.
"You're an idiot if you are not aware," said Brad Goldstein, a junior double major in linguistics and political science. "It's just that people do not care because sex is better without a condom."
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
