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Archive for the ‘STD Statistics’ Category

STD Awareness Month and Our Youth Obsession

Tuesday, April 6th, 2010

April showers bring May flowers…and National STD Awareness month.  You’re ahead of the pack because you’re aware of STDs and HIV.  You’re aware of the risks and aware that there are very easy ways to get tested privately and conveniently. But, if you look at the efforts to raise our country’s STD awareness, you’d think that only young people are vulnerable to STDs and HIV.  This year, the CDC, Planned Parenthood, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and others are sponsoring a great awareness campaign by MTV to encourage young people to get tested for sexually transmitted diseases.  It’s called Get Yourself Tested or GYT and it’s a terrific campaign.

But what about the rest of us in our 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, and beyond?  While it’s critical to teach young people how to protect themselves, why is this important public health awareness effort so focused on teenagers?  FACT: The highest number of newly acquired cases of HIV/AIDS have been found in middle aged adults, ages 35 to 44.  Next highest age group?  Ages 45 to 54.  The least affected group is the youngest group between the age of 25 to 34.  This is CDC published data.

The new faces of HIV/AIDs are not gay men or the sexually promiscuous or IV drug users.  It’s the woman over 50 who doesn’t use condoms because she’s not worried about getting pregnant.  Or the divorced 42 year dad who’s dating again after many years and doesn’t know how to bring up the subject about using condoms or STD testing.  Viagra, Facebook, online dating, midlife divorce, and lack of awareness may be contributing forces but STDs are no longer an affliction of the young.

And maybe… it’s just that grownups are not so good at using condoms.  In a University of Chicago survey of single women ages 58 to 93, nearly 60% said they didn’t use a condom the last time they had sex. A May 2008 study conducted by the New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene showed that among single people with at least two sexual partners, 56% of people over age 45 reported using condoms the last time they had sex, compared with 61% of 25-to-44-year-olds and 80% of 18-to-24-year-olds.

Grownups — here’s our message.  Please hear it.  STDs and HIV are preventable.  Please use condoms every time you have sexual contact.  And please get tested today.  Ask your partner, too.  It’s easy. Call us at 888-215-9543 if you have questions. We’re here to help.

Posted in HIV, STD Statistics, STD Testing, safe sex | Add Your Comment »

CDC: Herpes rises to 16% of U.S. Adults

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

How many people between the ages of 14 and 49 have genital herpes in the U.S.?  Take a guess.  1%?  5%?  The CDC released data today that as much as 16 percent of the U.S. population between the ages of 14 and 49 has genital herpes.  And that’s just the reported cases.  The CDC estimates that more than 80 percent of the people who have the herpes simplex 2 virus have no idea they are infected.  Many people never have symptoms or outbreaks, or those symptoms are mild and mistaken for something else. Worse, genital herpes can be transmitted during skin to skin contact even when the infected person is not having any symptoms or showing visible sores.

Are you concerned that you may have been exposed to genital herpes? Getting a type-specific herpes test for HSV-1 and HSV-2 is the only way to learn if you have the infection or if you do not.  We’re here to help people get tested for herpes, HIV and other common STDs.  Doctors are available 7 days a week to discuss the results and followup with treatment, if necessary.

“This study serves as a stark reminder that herpes remains a common and serious health threat in the United States. Everyone should be aware of the symptoms, risk factors and steps that can be taken to prevent the spread of this lifelong and incurable infection,” said Dr. Kevin Fenton, director of the CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention.

Of the people who have genital herpes infections, women and African-Americans top the list for the highest rates. According to the CDC data, 1 in 5 women is infected with genital herpes or HSV-2.  The infection rate was almost twice as high among women — nearly 21 percent — than among men, at 11.5 percent.

For African-Americans, the prevalence of infection was 39.2 percent — more than three times that of whites, at 12.3 percent. Black women are most affected by the disease, with an infection rate of 48 percent.

Fenton said the high rates of herpes among African-Americans is most likely contributing to the high rate of HIV in that community. In fact, statistics show that people with herpes are two to three times more likely to get HIV if exposed.

CDC experts say there are a number of barriers to treatment, including poverty and lack of access to care. They say young women often don’t get tested for STDs because of misinformation and stigma.

And, according to CDC experts, while African-American women and men are often unwilling to get tested, doctors are often reluctant to discuss sexual health with their patients — particularly with black male patients.

Posted in Risk, STD Statistics, STD Testing, herpes | Add Your Comment »