Unknown
STD affects half of sexually active
By
Carly McGee
The Diamondback
COLLEGE
PARK, Md. (U-Wire) — Close to 50 percent
of sexually active people have a sexually
transmitted disease that many people do
not know even exists, and that statistic
is even higher on college campuses.
Human
papillomavirus or HPV is still a large mystery
to heath professionals, and they are still
researching the issue.
Symptoms
don’t show up for a while, if at all,
and there is no way to test for this epidemic
in men, said Tara Torchia, sexual heath
coordinator for the University of Maryland.
In
a given year, it is estimated more people
will become infected with HPV than with
herpes, according to the American Social
Health Association. More than 1 million
people acquire herpes each year and more
than 5 million people acquire HPV each year.
The
risk is even higher for college students
because the majority of them are not in
committed relationships, said Dr. Andrew
Goldstein, an obstetrician/gynecologist
based in Annapolis.
“There
are parties and beer, and I’ve seen
what can happen as a result of careless
actions during a night out,” he said.
“College students need to be more
educated on the matter and really think
very carefully about their decisions.”
Symptoms
in women include genital warts or abnormal
cervical cells. In order to monitor the
cervical cells, women need to have annual
Pap smears.
If
abnormal cervical cells are not treated
properly they could develop into cervical
cancer, which, “takes years to develop,”
according to ASHA.
At
this time there is no way to test for the
virus in males, Torchia said.
There
are many different types or “strains”
of HPV. Some don’t show symptoms,
some are low risk — which are associated
with external genital warts — and
some are high risk and could lead to cervical
cancer, according to ASHA.
Condoms
do not completely prevent HPV because this
virus can be transmitted through skin contact
on the thighs and lower abdomen.
The
Food and Drug Administration has fought
to put this fact on condom labels, but condom
companies are fighting it because they think
it will cause people not to wear condoms
at all, Torchia said.
“We
positively test hundreds of women, but only
a small amount of the students on campus
actually get tested here,” she said.
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