SHS stats show campus STD risks

Reports from Student Health Services (SHS) at A&M-Commerce indicate an estimated number of students that have been diagnosed with an STD since the beginning of 2011.

In women, Chlamydia is shown to be the leading STD, with 22 positively diagnosed women tested on the A&M-Commerce campus. In men, gonorrhea was the leading STD, with eight positively diagnosed men.

SHS Physicians Assistant Maxine Mendoza-Welch said there are simple precautions students can take in order to prevent infection.

"They can take an abstinence oath and decide that they will be abstinent until they are married," she said. "They can use condoms 100% of the time. The condoms do not protect you against the diseases that cause ulcerations like Chancroid and Herpes. A condom will do nothing for that. It does protect you - if put on correctly - from gonorrhea, Chlamydia, HIV, and syphilis. The other thing you can do is be in a monogamous relationship, meaning having one partner."

Many students both sexually experienced and not, are still putting themselves at risk by relying on popular misconceptions about sex and STDs. For instance, believing that if any sign of infection is not visible, then one does not exist.

"I've had guys say, 'Oh she's clean. I looked at her and she's clean,' but you can't tell," Mendoza-Welch said. "You can't tell because you can have herpes but not have any ulceration, but in your body secretions you can still be spreading the virus. Some people have anal sex, and if you have ulceration from something like syphilis, that's a painless ulcer, you can transmit it that way."

While some students are giving each other pre-sexual examinations, others believe that it is up to the infected individual to divulge such information prior to sexual activity. Thought there is some truth to this, the law only applies to HIV.

"There is [a law] for HIV," Mendoza-Welch said. "You will be charged with a criminal offense to transmit the disease if you know [you have it]. There is legislation in place. A majority of the states, including Texas, has a law, but HIV is the only [STD] that it applies to."

The East Texan is working with Student Health Services to bring you more information about sexual health at the A&M-Commerce campus, and more on this issue will be available soon. More information can also be found in the April 5 print edition of The East Texan.