STD report - Worrying trend reflects attitudes

THE inexorable rise in the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases is a worrying trend that reflects the changing trends and attitudes of Irish society in recent years.

For some time now, concerns have been voiced by the medical profession over the increase in sexually transmitted infections in this country which last year jumped by over 12% to a record reported figure of 10,695 cases.

According to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) the three main factors behind the steady rise are unsafe sexual practices, more sophisticated testing methods, and greater public awareness of the spread of sexually transmitted infections.

Apart altogether from the profound change in moral attitudes mirrored in this increase, the stark reality from a personal viewpoint is that if such infections go undiagnosed and untreated they can have devastating repercussions on people's health and fertility.

If anything, the scale of the problem will become even clearer next year when the incidence of infection will be monitored on a web-based computerised system, a welcome step in the process of improving the management, surveillance and control of infectious diseases.

A worrying aspect of the trend is that some infections may have no symptoms and are difficult to notice. So, early diagnosis is absolutely essential to avoid getting infected by a sexual partner, according to health specialist Dr Mary Cronin.

Undoubtedly, it is in the interests of sexually active adults to follow her advice by practicing safe sex and making sure to have regular check-ups if they put themselves at risk of infection.