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Archive for the ‘STD Testing’ Category

Why Men Don’t Go to the Doctor

Monday, May 24th, 2010

“I feel fine.”  “I’m sure it’s nothing.”  “It’ll go away on its own.”  “I don’t have time to go to the doctor.”  If you’ve put off going to the doctor until something is really seriously wrong, you’re not alone.  1,100 men were recently polled about their reluctance to go to the doctor.  Turns out that even under the best circumstances when men have health insurance, have a primary care doctor that they feel comfortable talking to, 58% say that something keeps them from actually going to the doctor.

Why?  What is stopping us from going to the doctor to get screened for cholesterol, high blood pressure, and (yes) STDs?  Could it be that it was always our mothers (or our spouses) who pushed us to go to the doctor and we just don’t like to get pushed to do anything?  Probably.  But the fact is, most STDs don’t have symptoms so there are no major warning signs.  You can have an STD and not feel sick or notice anything on your body that’s different.  And unlike a bad flu or a sprained wrist, you can’t “shake it off” or “tough it out.”  If you don’t know you have an STD, it could lead to complications.  Our advice?  Get an STD test, find out if you need to take care of anything, and get it done.  Otherwise, you’re just playing tricks on yourself.

Look, it’s understandable that we don’t want to go to the doctor to talk about personal issues related to our sexual health.   Convenience and privacy are fundamental to getting tested for HIV, herpes, chlamydia and other STDs.  And if there’s a positive test result, doctors are available by phone seven days a week for consultation and treatment.  You know you want to get an STD test, but you don’t want the hassle.  That’s why we’re here.  Welcome to the sexual health revolution.

Posted in Cultural Attitudes, STD Testing | 1 Comment »

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 »

Survey says…It’s Risky Out There!

Monday, March 1st, 2010

We recently conducted a survey and found that 1 in 3 people will still have sex with someone who refuses to get an STD test…even after being asked to get tested…even though they know “they shouldn’t.”  Think about that.  1 in 3 people knowingly put themselves and others at risk for becoming infected with HIV or other sexually transmitted diseases.  As it turns out, only 5% of those surveyed have been asked by their partners to get STD tested, so there’s not much dialogue happening in or out of bed about sexual health.  And no wonder.  It’s not an easy subject to bring up in conversation, especially at the beginning of an intimate relationship.

The health math is easy.  Lots of sex minus sexual health conversation = more infections.  We think about this equation a lot and work hard to help more people feel comfortable with taking control of their sexual health.  Learn how private online STD testing works. And then share it with a friend.  Sex is fun, but it’s also an extreme sport.  Protect yourself and your partners and get tested today.  You’ll be glad you did.

Posted in Risk, STD Testing | 1 Comment »

NEWS: Tiger Testing Day on January 12!

Thursday, January 7th, 2010

Even if you are not six degrees removed from a Tiger Woods mistress, it’s important to get tested for HIV every year or more if you have sexual risk behaviors.  As the Tiger Woods and other celebrity sex scandals teach us, we’re at risk even when we don’t think we are.  To help everyone stay on top of their sexual health, we’re offering free HIV testing on January 12.  Take a minute and tweet about STD Test Express, follow us, tell your friends, and spread the word.  Help take sexual health out of the closet.  It’s as important as staying fit, eating well, using sunscreen, not smoking, and everything else we do to stay healthy. Come on…be a Tiger.

Posted in HIV, STD Testing, safe sex | 2 Comments »

Tiger Woods and the latest “Transgressions”

Sunday, December 6th, 2009

Public figures getting caught and admitting to extramarital affairs seems to have become a weekly news event.  Tiger Woods is the latest but it’s not hard to remember the last 5 or 6 guys in this public flogging: Mark Sanford, John Edwards, Eliot Spitzer, David Letterman, Kobe Bryant, Alex Rodriguez, etc.  The typical story is a narrative that goes like this: famous guy gets caught, paparazzi photos and other forms of data detritus draw media attention (e.g. blue Gap dress, phone bills, emails, texts), days of denials are followed by official confession with apologies, wife stands by wordlessly (Silda Spitzer) or not (Elin Nordegren and Jenny Sanford), late night comics enjoy a fresh crop of easy jokes, pundits analyze and ponder political and economic cost to famed celebrity, and then the comeback.

But there’s always one part of the story that’s missing: STD testing.

When you or your spouse has sex outside of the relationship, there is an increased risk of becoming infected with an STD.  To be clinically blunt, any sexual activity that allows blood, semen, or other body fluids to come into contact with the mucous membrane or through cuts or lesions could spread a sexually transmitted disease.  Oral sex, penetration with fingers, and sharing sex toys, as well as touching open sores and then other parts of the body, are all possible ways to send disease from one person to another.

So, did Tiger get regular STD tests to safeguard his sexual health and protect his wife?

Extramarital affairs are, of course, not confined to the rich and famous.  In fact, University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center did a massive study in 2002 which found that 15% of women and 22% of men had said they’d had sex with someone besides their spouse while married.

We’re not here to moralize or philosophize about marriage and monogamy.  If you are concerned about your sexual health and the health of those you love, get tested regularly.  We’re here to help.

Posted in Risk, STD Testing | 30 Comments »