Newspapers / Elon University Student Newspaper / April 28, 2005, edition 1 / Page 14
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Page 14 •Thursday, April 28, 2005 Paul Skrickus Regardless of Educatk Still Growing Probl^ Reporter Young adults in this country put themselves in high-risk situations all too frequently. One of the worst risks is participating in unprotected sex, which puts involved in danger of acqumng a sexually transmitted disease or causing an unwanted pregnancy h f g P '"u University physician and medical director. “That’s why they drive !h"n"k;ai:fdrngerofIir“' forever”^* pass, but the consequences of having unprotected sex and acquiring STD’s will stay with an individual Although there has been a strong push over the past few decades to educate the youth of America and increase awareness about STD’s it is still a problem. Accordmg to the Amencan Social Health Association, two-thirds of all STDs occur in people 25 years of age or v~ " ! ’ . ly active^^d of!L*73^^rcL^re^^^^^^ “liege students living away from home are sexua. The Major Players for College-Aged People Z ‘""“"'I' threatening of all STDs, AIDS is not the most prevalent in the United States or on college campuses. We see more chlamydia, occasional gonorrhea and I really can’t remember the last time I’ve seen a positive syphilis test here ” HawwL said ^ " Chlamydia is a bactend sexually transmitted disease and is the most common STD among college-aged people There are an estimated 3 million people in the who have *e disease, and as many as one in 10 sexually active women would test positive L it, a^rding^to the Am^cl s“c!a aTsS Chlamydia bacteria are passed from one person to another through contact during sexual intercniir«P- it t i Associatio Once a person has contracted chlamydia there could be anywhere fromle to “commonly passed through oral-genital contact. three weeks before that person starts to see symptoms. Some people have been known not to show any symptoms at all. A second kind of STD plaguing college campuses is the human papillomavirus, the most common STD in the U.S. today Some types of HPV cause genital warts! “HPV is the most common STD I see here on campus,” Hawkins said. “It’s the fastest growing STD in the country over the past few years.” There are more than 100 known strands of HPV, more than 30 of them being known to cause genital warts. The warts can take anywhere from three weeks to three months to appear. This makes HPV dangerous because a person might not know he or she has contracted the disease for some time, meanwhile continuing to be sexually active. A third STD prevalent among college-aged students is gonorrhea, a bacteria dis ease that in some cases is also called “the clap.” Gonorrhea can be passed from one person to another through all types of sexual contact. According to the ASHA, the gonorrhea bacteria thrives on soft skin, usu ally mucous membranes including the urethra, vagina, cervix, anus, lining of ones eyelid and throat. Symptoms for gonorrhea become visible in men two to five days after exposure; may experience diSCharoe f fO most women will remain asymptomatic but if women do show symptoms they will - be visible within 10 days of contracting the disease, according to the ASHA. Like chlamydia, gonorrhea can cause very serious complications down the road if left untreated. U.S. Women may experience an inflamed rectum, inf 13^ or a v^sMial discharge- nis, pa"’,i, of the test' Men may experience a discharge tion and^pain Women may get genital w , IVIen may get genital wai luion r»- untreated the disease ight experience pain during urination, a nating more often than nor in*
Elon University Student Newspaper
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April 28, 2005, edition 1
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