The 2009 Tennessee Women’s Health Report Card revealed that sexually transmitted infections in women have spiked since 2002.
Health officials viewed the records of more than 3 million women in the state and found cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis had risen between 2002 and 2007.
Maureen Nokes, director of Nursing at the MTSU Health and Student Services, said better technology and more testing is the cause for this spike among college students.
“I think we are seeing more of it in the college because more of them are coming in to be tested, and we have better testing now than we had even three years ago,” Nokes said. “The price is very low too, so I think we have more students coming in to do the test, which would obviously make our numbers higher.”
The report card stated that in 100,000 women, the rate of chlamydia has risen among Tennessee women by 25 percent. The report card also said that this calculation is 90 percent worse than the Healthy People 2010 benchmark goal.
Nokes said that the fear in sexually transmitted infections has seemed to diminish in relation to when she was younger.
“I just wonder if this generation is as afraid of STIs as older generations were,” Nokes said. “When I was 17, if someone said I had chlamydia, I’d have been hysterical, but we see 20-year-olds come with chlamydia and they are just like ‘OK, how long do I have to take the medicine?’”
Nokes said that while there is a cure for chlamydia, continuous infections could be hazardous to a woman’s health.
“In the female, consistent chlamydia infections can lead to infertility, and I don’t know that girls, young college girls, are thinking about when they have a baby in three or four years,” Nokes said. “ However, right now is the time to think about that and they should.”
In 100,000 women, syphilis and gonorrhea were both 90 percent higher than the Healthy People 2010 goal, which is to eliminate health disparities among different segments of the population.
Terri Johnson, director of the June Anderson Women’s Center, said that she believes more information is the reason for this spike in STIs among women.
“I think people see the seriousness of it and are more aware and educated about it,” Johnson said. “People are more likely to report it now because of that education.”
Johnson said while information is more readily available now, providing information is a constant among students at MTSU, and that over the past couple of years, more pamphlets have been required to meet the need for information.
“It is a constant,” Johnson said. “Sometimes you see more at the beginning of the school year, but we see it throughout the year so we’ve had to have more information.”
Nokes and Johnson disagreed, however, on the reason for the rise in numbers of women with STIs and how the media influenced that.
“I think we have become desensitized to the whole idea because of the media,” Nokes said. “I come in, I find out I have an STI, I take an antibiotic for 10 days and it’s over.”
Nokes said that all of the nurses and doctors at the health center inform both sexually and non-sexually active people about the causes and preventatives of STIs, but that hasn’t stopped the cases.
“We remind them to use condoms and inform them as much as possible,” Nokes said. “But again, they are still coming in and they still have it.”
Johnson, however, said she felt that more advertising and information has given more women the courage step forward instead of feeling ashamed.
“The secret and shame is being removed and people are more aware that it can happen to anyone,” Johnson said. “I think advertisements and the willingness of people to talk about it have helped in that aspect so the women don’t feel judged.”
Nokes said that Lisa Thomason, director of Health Promotions for MTSU, is teaching students more about STI’s and the Tunnel of Terror will also help get students informed.
“With our new health educator and ‘The Tunnel of Terror’ on Oct. 26, we are really going to get people knowledgeable about STIs,” Nokes said. “We are participating in the event because it’s a whole education on STIs.”
The Tunnel of Terror is held in the James Union Building where it will provide information on STIs and provide free HIV testing. The test is an oral swab that Nokes said would produce results in 20 minutes.
“It is not 100 percent accurate but if it comes back positive we will do further testing.”
Nokes said that the MTSU health center has become a site for the state, and that they do HIV tests for free.
“They don’t have to see a doctor – They can just come into the health center at any time and ask and we do it for free,” Nokes said.
Nokes said that while information is key, one of the easiest ways to prevent yourself from getting an STI or curing it is to get tested and use protection.
“Be tested early, get your annual exams,” Nokes said. “Get exams at age 21 if you’re not sexually active – if you are, then within 12 months of when you become sexually active.”
Nokes said the earlier STIs are caught, the easier they are to treat.
Tennessee women fail STI report card
Published: Sunday, September 27, 2009
Updated: Sunday, September 27, 2009
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