Collegiate Times

While the international AIDS epidemic is continuing to wreak havoc across the globe, surprisingly, AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome), although the most commonly known STD, is not the most prevalent on college campuses.

With today, December 1, being World AIDS Day, sexually transmitted diseases, or, more commonly referred to now as Sexually Transmitted Infections, is a hot topic.

STDs or STIs can be generally divided into two distinct areas: bacterial and viral. The first are relatively easy to cure when detected and include gonorrhea, chlamydia and syphilis, while viral STDs are treatable, but not curable, and include genital warts, herpes, hepatitis and HIV — the virus that causes AIDS.

According to Schiffert Health Center’s website, “It is estimated that over 20 percent of individuals (one in five) with more than one (sexual) partner have an STI.”

“We have STDs at Virginia Tech, and that makes them a problem,” said Jon Fritsch, M.S. Health Educator for Schiffert Health Center’s Office of Health Education. “(Unfortunately), we do have some high rates, especially with those (sexually active students) who have multiple partners.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the most commonly contracted STD on college campuses is HPV (Human Papilloma Virus). The virus, also known as genital warts, comes in over 100 different types, and to date, an average of four to six million cases of HPV are treated each year in the United States alone.

“HPV or genital warts is the most prevalent of the diseases seen here at Tech,” said Fritsch.

The other most common STD among college students is chlamydia, a bacterial infection that can be cured, but only if detected.
In terms of numbers, there has been an increase in the number of clients treated for STDs at Schiffert and or the Women’s Center, but as Fritsch reveals, its hard to base the cases on there being more STDs.

“Many factors influence the number of cases we see,” said Fritsch. “For example, it could be that now more students are coming forward in search of treatment. Today, we are seeing more cases of HPV, like all the college campuses are, and we’re seeing fewer cases of STDs like chlamydia than we did say a decade ago.”

Early detection is one of the biggest problems with STDs among college students because many of these diseases do not prompt symptoms right away, or sometimes at all. This makes many individuals unaware that they are carrying an STD and they can unknowingly transmit their infections to other partners.

Another problem with STDs on college campuses is the common misconception among students that these infections are incurable, leading to an unfortunate number of individuals who just ignore their situation rather than get help.

“There are so many (misconceptions) to chose from,” said Fritsch. “They are generally based on a lack of knowledge in terms of sexual behavior. I think many people underestimate how easy it is to get an STD like HPV, and as a general rule, people don’t like to think something bad can happen to them.”
“One thing I’d like to say about HPV is that individuals are more susceptible to contracting HIV or other STDs when they have that infection,” said Sanora Butler, a nurse at Schiffert Health Center.

Schiffert does offer testing for most STDs, including chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, HIV, genital HPV, genital herpes simplex, hepatitis B and hepatitis C. Also, according to Fritsch, if a patient is diagnosed with an STD, most of the cases are treated in house.

Tech’s health center also boasts one of the top AIDS clinics in the area.

“Our numbers have been the highest in the region for clients coming back to get their results after being tested for an STD,” said Butler. “And that is very important.”

It is also important to remember that while abstinence is the best way to prevent the spread of STDs (among other things, like unplanned pregnancy), most college kids are sexually active, and therefore should be using condoms when engaged in intercourse. Condoms are available at the pharmacy in Schiffert Health Center and are also given to students who attend the many safe sex educational workshops put on by the school. One such promotion is actually going on right now: “Wrap Your Package.”

This event helps promote condom use, giving out safe sex tips and free condoms to Tech students.

“I think STDs are a problem on our campus,” said senior Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise major Danielle DeWolfe, who is currently volunteering at the “Wrap Your Package” table in McComas Hall. “Safe sex in general needs to be pushed, and people need to be more aware and more careful of their decisions.”