For the fourth year in a row, the numbers on STD contraction rates have steadily risen. According to data released by the CDC, the Centers for Disease Control, in August of 2018, people are continuing to contract sexually transmitted diseases in growing numbers. Leading the trend are chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis with 2.3 million case combined in 2017, the year of data used for the analysis. Compared to 2016’s numbers, the increase adds up to about 200,000 cases more. Men’s Health notes that the increase of gonorrhea should stand out as a particular warning to men. From 2016 to 2017, the rates of gonorrhea in males doubled, the article cites.
Preventing STD’s
One of the easiest ways to prevent contracting an STD is to use protection during any kind of sexual intercourse. However, sexual activity is not the only way an STD can be contracted. STD’s are exchanged via bodily fluids which includes not just sexual fluid like semen or vaginal fluids, but blood. Even coming into contact with an open sore of someone who is living with an active STD can put a man at risk. For men who are addicted to drugs, more specifically, men who are addicted to using drugs intravenously, STD’s can be a significant risk.
Addiction And STD’s
Mind-altering substances intoxicate the brain in such a way that it can no longer make proper judgment calls, execute decision making, or weigh negative consequences. The tale of substance abuse and the spread of STD’s can be as simple as a drunk man choosing to engage in sexual intercourse without a condom- which happens to millions of men regularly. Men who are addicted to using heroin intravenously, on the other hand, are making a different judgment call. Intravenous drug users can be known to share needles, find needles on the ground, in garbage cans, and use them, or even use needles in infected areas of their body like an open abscess. Intravenous drug use not only puts men at the risk of contracting one or more STD’s, they are at risk of developing multiple forms of Hepatitis, HIV and AIDS.
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