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Although avoiding talking about HPV (human papillomavirus), HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) or herpes may seem easier than confronting their infectious realities, GYT and the organizations surrounding STD Awareness Month remind us that they cannot be ignored. According to a GYT campaign poster, one in two sexually active young people will get a sexually transmitted infection by age 25.

St. Louis, as reported by SHS, has been ranked in the top five U.S. cities for STIs since 2000. Furthermore, SHS reports that St. Louis was number one per capita in chlamydia and gonorrhea in 2006 and 2007. According to the CDC, in 2008, 18,314 cases of chlamydia (out of 100,000) in the state of Missouri were diagnosed in 8- to 24-year-olds. Although rates of youth STI contraction vary by county from 1 percent to 6 percent between chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis, most Missouri counties count 3 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds as infected with chlamydia.

Chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis are the most treatable STIs, as all three respond to prompt antibiotic treatment; however, they are also some of the most common and require both partners to be treated simultaneously, which can be difficult in more casual sexual situations. Other common STIs include HPV, trichomoniasis (trich), hepatitis B, genital herpes and HIV. HPV, with 6.2 million new cases each year, ranks next to trich (5 million new cases per year) as one of the most rapidly spreading STIs in the last decade.

Trich is a parasitic infection that usually causes a green discharge or discomfort in females and sometimes a penile discharge in males. Although only spread through vaginal intercourse, as opposed to oral or anal sex, trich is one of the few STIs that can remain in your system.

But, although most people develop symptoms of trich within the first weeks after exposure, not all people necessarily develop symptoms. In fact, with most STIs—especially HPV—no visible symptoms occur at all. Genital herpes is another particularly good example. While 45 million Americans are currently diagnosed with genital herpes (herpes 2), studies have shown that 80 to 90 percent of those with genital herpes have not been diagnosed at all!

Because the majority of those infected show no symptoms, this viral illness is one of the many reasons getting tested is the only way to truly know if you have an STI—one that can be spread not only around your own body, especially if you are female, but to your partner(s) as well.

According to Dr. Kevin Fenton, director of the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STI and TB Prevention, in the CDC’s final press release statement for STI awareness month, the estimated cost of STIs to the U.S. health care system is nearly $16 billion annually. And diseases and infections from sexual contact are 100 percent preventable!

Melissa Ruwitch, assistant director of SHS and chief of Health Promotion Services, said, “At SHS we believe that if students are mature enough to be in sexual relationships, they would be smart enough to take care of their partners.” She continued, “An important aspect [beyond physical protection] is emotional protection; it’s important to be prepared for emotional risks and to remember that third aspect of sexual decision making.” Being emotionally prepared requires a sexually active young adult to know the facts about sex and also how these facts can impact his or her life.

For information about coping with sexual assault or emotions surrounding sexual decision making, please visit: coping.wustl.edu.

For more information about STIs, STI testing and services on campus, please visit: shs.wustl.edu/sex.htm.

Gardasil, a vaccine for preventing certain types of human papillomavirus, is currently marketed to young women and girls. (Courtesy of Jan Cristian)

I grew up knowing all the facts about STDs. Before they became STIs, the most common STDs identified by my high school and middle school counselors were gonorrhea, chlamydia and genital herpes. HIV was a risk, too, as well as pubic lice (crabs), syphilis and even hepatitis C (all awareness made possible by celebrities Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee). Condom use for everything including hand jobs and oral sex was the only way to prevent these diseases when engaging in genital contact. Many diseases could be treated, but all could be prevented. STD testing was of course encouraged. Not once did I hear of any vaccinations or the mention of the phrase “human papillomavirus.”

Then all of a sudden, ads for Gardasil, a vaccine that prevents certain types of human papillomavirus (HPV), began replacing ads for birth control pills like Yaz or Ortho Tri-Cyclen Lo on the pages of my teen magazines (yes, I still read those). Instead of girls running through fields of well-arranged and color-coded hormone pills, mothers and daughters proclaimed the risk of cervical cancer between blue and burgundy borders.

These ad campaigns were launched in 2006, when Gardasil was approved for use on young girls. It was this vaccine and its implications (as well as advertising) that brought the reality of HPV to most sexually active people, even though the HPV virus itself was discovered in 1956 as a disease affecting skin and mucous membranes in humans. As it was studied more in depth, German researcher Harald zur Hausen found the link between HPV and many cervical cancers, which caused the development of a vaccine and subsequently an awareness of the potentially harmful disease. By this time, however, HPV was estimated to be the most common sexually transmitted disease in the United States, with 75-80 percent of sexually active American men and women contracting a genital HPV infection at some point in their life.

But what is HPV, really, and why is it now something that plagues us on television, on bulletin boards and in gynecological waiting rooms? A few facts are important. First, unless it is one of the two types of wart-causing HPV (6 and 11), there are no visible symptoms of HPV. There is also no administered test for HPV like there is for chlamydia or genital herpes. The only way to “tell” if you have HPV, unless you have contracted visible genital warts or are in an advanced stage of cancers caused by the virus, is through abnormal cervical cells on a Pap smear. There is no reliable test for HPV in males even though it is equally common in males and females. Furthermore, the only way to prevent this disease is to refrain completely from sexual contact. Since HPV can lurk on the skin, condoms will not be 100 percent effective in protecting one from the virus. Although most HPV infections clear up on their own within two years of contraction, the risk of contraction and long-term side effects still remains.