Though it can seem embarrassingly personal, and comes with an undue amount of stigma, the subject of sexually transmitted diseases and infections is one that affects our entire community. From easily treated conditions like Gonorrhea and Chlamydia to manageable but incurable diseases like Herpes to debilitating and life-threatening diseases such as HIV/AIDs, it is the individual’s responsibility to know their status, and the steps they can take to manage or prevent infection, to do their part to stem the tide of these serious infections.
But access to testing can be limited and inconvenient, and people who suspect they may be infected can experience undue shame when assessing their options for treatment. Add this to the fact that many sexually transmitted diseases often show little or no observable symptoms, and you have a public health crisis that is often as silent as it is destructive. In an effort to educate the campus community about the dangers of STDs, and to make those afflicted with them aware of their treatment options, the City of Milwaukee Health Department has expanded its efforts to encourage MATC students to get tested and learn effective prevention.
This expanded effort includes setting up more frequent screening events on campus, with the aim being to be available to students every other month. Last month on October, 4, representatives of the city health department were able to test seventy-eight students and found a significant presence of both Chlamydia and Gonorrhea. The next screening session, scheduled for December 1, hopes to test even more students and, in conjunction with World AIDS day, also offer tests for HIV as well.
But while testing is an efficient and confidential way to determine who has been infected and to inform them of their options, it remains true that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. One of the most important functions these events serve is to educate every student about the dangers of these diseases and the simple steps everyone can take to reduce the risk of transmission, including distributing condoms, still the simplest and most effective way for sexually active students to protect themselves.
Lending extra urgency to these screenings is the fact that recent Health Department visits to the MATC campus have revealed troublesomely high rates of infection, leading officials to redouble their efforts at education and detection of cases. Of particular concern are the numerous instances of the common bacterial infections Gonorrhea and Chlamydia, both of which are routinely and successfully treated, but can cause real problems if left undiagnosed, which unfortunately often happens due to the diseases lack of dramatic, or even visible, symptoms. Both of these conditions can lead to more serious ailments, including Pelvic Inflammatory Disease, reproductive problems and infertility; there is even the risk that Gonorrhea and Chlamydia could be passed from a mother to her unborn child resulting in a variety of life-threatening complications for a newborn.
These screenings, provided free of charge and with the utmost confidentiality, offer students a simple and convenient way to learn the risks and prevention strategies in a non-judgmental context. The benefits to this type of testing are many and varied, and could greatly impact your personal health and future family planning. Perhaps the biggest reason to get yourself tested is to know the best way to keep infections from spreading to people you care about. It’s an easy way to protect not only yourself but the entire community; there’s no shame in contracting one of these infections, only in doing nothing about it. Get yourself tested.
