Sex, it’s the single greatest motivator in human history and it continues to surround us and influence us to this day, especially in the college age demographic. Given that sex is so prevalent in our society and so present in our minds, why is it that we aren’t more consciously aware of the inherent risks associated with it? Yeah sure we all know that we can contract STD’s and STI’s through sexual activity, but many of us largely ignore those risks. Why is that? Do we just not fully understand the gravity of those situations? Do we believe that we’re “invincible” and that “it won’t be me that gets an STD?” That’s an extremely naive way of thinking and we have to do better going forward, especially with the rapidly evolving STD epidemic facing our country and the world today.
STD’s have always been an issue for sexually active individuals, but the magnitude of the issue has significantly increased in recent years. According to a CBS article outlining a report by the CDC claiming there is a “growing STD epidemic” in America, multiple different STD’s have seen major jumps in numbers of cases over the past few years. The rapid increases in gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis have contributed to the development of what the CDC is calling an epidemic. One of the most surprising trends is that these diseases are not only impacting sexually active individuals, but also children, with newborn deaths from syphilis increasing by 22% since 2017. How can this be? Congenital syphilis results when syphilis is transmitted from mother to newborn during pregnancy. The crazy part of all this is that these cases are completely preventable, yet we aren’t doing anything about it. At least to me, this is extremely disheartening. How is it that the most technically advanced country in the world with exceptional access to protection and contraception can still be so significantly impacted by preventable diseases? The answer is negligence, and that negligence will only continue to contribute to the epidemic the CDC is so worried about and we cannot afford to let this continue to impact our society and, perhaps more importantly, our children.
So what can we do to fix the problem? It’s actually relatively simple in the grand scheme of things; we just need to stop being so stupid and irrational. Even though many of the diseases may not actually show any signs or symptoms, thereby making it difficult to identify affected individuals, there are plenty of preventative measures that are easy to take that can completely avoid the issues presented by STD’s and STI’s. An article published by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases lays out a plan that I think would work wonders in working to prevent the continued spread of STD’s. This plan consists of three principles (the three C’s): Communicate, Cooperate and Condomise. Putting these principles into practice on a consistent basis, in my opinion, would do wonders in limiting the spread of STD’s and STI’s in our communities. It’s very easy to wear a condom on a consistent basis and to seek help from medical professionals when we need it. But that can oftentimes be difficult due to stigmas that surround STD’s, which is why this plan also concentrates on stopping those stigmas to make it easier for individuals to come forward and seek help. How are we supposed to stop the stigma? Education. The way we talk about STD’s when learning about them has a huge impact on social perceptions of those diseases, and by changing the way we talk about them, we can change the perceptions about them and, as a result, the ways we in which we act to prevent them. Overall, we need a huge overhaul not only in the way we talk about STD’s, but also the way we act in working to prevent them.
Keegan's Microbiology Blog 