Three Things Thursday highlights three things I am paying attention to as an epidemiologist each week.
As you may know (if you read my back-to-school post in August), I am co-teaching (with my friend and brilliant feminist studies scholar) a class this semester called Sex & Health. Last week we began our study of disease/dis-ease, where we are focusing primarily on HPV with a little syphilis sprinkled in (because we cannot ignore the US Public Health Service’s — illegal and unethical — syphilis study).
I mention this for two reasons —
First, we NEED to talk about sex. When we opened up our classroom for students to ask questions about sexually transmitted diseases last week, we talked for more than an hour. The questions just kept coming… everything from what happens if I think I have a disease1 to can I feel the difference between chlamydia and gonorrhea infections.2 We also talked about how prevalent sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are — more than half of Americans will have a sexually transmitted infection in their lifetime. And what treatments and forms of protection do we have to ward off long-term health consequences? The need to talk about sex and infections spread via sex is desperate. We need to stop referring to talking about sex as “the talk,” as if it only has to happen once. Conversations about sex need to be on-going. They need to be nonjudgmental. And they need to include more than a simple mandate to not have sex before marriage.
We also NEED to be addressing consent every chance we get.
The second reason I mention my Sex & Health class is because my eyes were tuned to news about STIs this week. The news cycle included (concerning) updates about congenital syphilis, a new antibiotic to treat gonorrhea, and (exciting) updates about the effectiveness of the HPV vaccine.
If you don’t think today’s news about SEX is relevant to you, I need you to know it is.
Did you know —
One in five Americans have an STI right now (many do not realize it)
Each year there are more than 13 million new cases of HPV in the US
Each year more than $16 billion is spent on caring for STIs
Nearly half of all new STI cases are among young people (15-24)
STIs are on the rise among older people (60+)
The most common symptom of an STI is — NO SYMPTOMS
In states where people report being more religious/practicing religion, there are higher rates of teen pregnancy
We need to have real, honest, open, and vulnerable conversations about sex. Preaching just don’t do it is just not enough. The data show that abstinence-only education results in higher teen birth rates and more STIs (including HIV). Additionally, abstinence-only educational programs do NOT help young people delay initiation of sexual intercourse.
We NEED to talk about sex.
A summary of this week’s news is all about STIs — (concerning) news about congenital syphilis, a new antibiotic to treat gonorrhea, and (exciting) updates about the effectiveness of the HPV vaccine
Hoping this post helps to educate and empower you
to be healthy and create healthy communities.
Increasing Congenital Syphilis
Yesterday’s Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report focused on congenital syphilis (when syphilis is passed to a developing fetus during pregnancy). Since 2012, congenital syphilis cases in the US have increased substantially. Syphilis during pregnancy can lead to stillbirth, miscarriage, infant death, and maternal and infant morbidity.
Congenital syphilis is preventable through testing and adequate treatment of syphilis during pregnancy. Increases in congenital syphilis mirror trends observed in rates of primary and secondary syphilis cases in women of reproductive age, which increased by 676% during 2012–2021. To reduce the transmission of syphilis to a developing fetus, the CDC recommends screening for syphilis during pregnancy at the first prenatal care visit. Where access to prenatal care is not optimal, screening and treatment (if indicated) should be performed as soon as pregnancy is identified.
Individuals with syphilis often do not have symptoms. The only way to know if you have syphilis is to be bested.
New Antibiotic to Treat Gonorrhea Shows Promise
Earlier this week, results from a Phase 3 clinical trial showed that a new drug to treat gonorrhea works as well as the last existing antibiotic that is currently used to treat the infection, results that could lead to licensure of the first new treatment for gonorrhea in decades. This breakthrough in treatment is important because the bacteria that causes the infection may become resistant to the current treatment.
The World Health Organization estimates that there are more than 82 million new gonorrhea infections every year. If a gonorrhea infection is not successfully treated, it can cause pelvic inflammatory disease, as well as infertility in women and sterility in men. Babies can contract it from infected mothers during birth, which can lead to blindness.
A new and effective treatment is an important and noteworthy improvement.
Effectiveness of HPV Vaccine
HPV — the human papillomavirus — is the most common STI. There are about 43 million HPV infections each year, many occurring in young adults. If an individual cannot clear an HPV infection, the virus can cause genital warts or cancer.
Warts and cancer caused by HPV can be prevented by the HPV vaccine. CDC recommends HPV vaccination for all preteens (including boys and girls) at age 11 or 12 years (or can start at age 9 years) and everyone through age 26 years old, if not vaccinated already.
Results from a large clinical trial were published earlier this week. The study showed that the vaccine is highly effective at preventing cancers caused by HPV. Ville Pimenoff, a senior researcher at the Karolinska Institutet and professor at the University of Oulu in Finland, who was the study’s lead author, stated —
“This paper nicely paints a picture that indeed the vaccine is most efficient when you vaccinate boys and girls. We can see how the different HPV types are distributed in the communities where you have both genders vaccinated, so it is clear that there’s a stronger protection. Apart from the individual vaccination, then you have the herd protection.”
Every preteen needs to be vaccinated against HPV.
That is all I have to say (for now). Let’s keep the sex talk going… What questions do you have?
And in an effort to destigmatize and normalize conversations about sex, be sure to share this post with a friend or member of your family.
More to come on talking about sex… Stay tuned.
If you think you have a disease, get tested.
No, you cannot feel the difference. You need to get tested. And, FYI, you can be co-infected with both diseases.
Excellent article, full of information. Sounds like you & your colleague have put together a great course.