Condoms are your friends, Niagara
I’m not mad at you, Niagara. I am just disappointed.
I think that is the right line to use. I don’t have kids, and I’ve never had to give “the talk” to anyone before, so I am winging it here. I mean, what do you say to a region that is behaving like hormonally-driven, irresponsible teenagers?
Honestly, this is not a conversation I thought we would have to have in 2016. But, as Jawaharlal Nehru said, facts are facts and they do not disappear on account of your likes. And these facts cannot be ignored.
Last week, Niagara’s public health department tweeted out some local statistics on sexually transmitted diseases.
Specifically, the agency said in the past two years Niagara’s gonorrhea rate has increased by a staggering 90 per cent.
Given that I went to high school in the late 1980s, at a time when there was a major push to get teenagers to understand safer sex and importance of using condoms, this statistic seemed rather puzzling.
After all this time, thought I, people would have enough common sense not put themselves at needless risk.
Then again, we are living in a world where a mad real-estate tycoon is a serious contender for president of the United States. So I shouldn’t take anything for granted.
I called up the public health department to find out what is behind that massive increase in gonorrhea infections, and the detailed statistics are sobering.
According to Kathy Bell, manager of sexual health, there were 93 positive tests for gonorrhea in 2013. By the end of 2015, that number shot up to 183.
About 66 per cent of these cases are people aged 15 to 29, and more men are testing positive than women.
Bell said part of the increase in positive tests is driven by simple math. Public health is conducting more tests, and with more tests, you are going to find more infected people.
Even with that caveat, however, the underlying reason for the spike in cases is that people aren’t careful.
“People have multiple sexual partners and aren’t using condoms,” Bell said.
Gonorrhea isn’t lethal, but it sure doesn’t sound like much fun. Bell said it causes serious pain, burning while urinating, and discharge from the penis and vagina. If left untreated, it can even impact your joints and heart valves.
However, you can also carry the bacteria and not show symptoms and spread it to your partner unknowingly.
The treatment involves injections of antibiotics and antibiotic pills.
If this all sounds like a high school sex ed class, well, that is because it should. And too many Niagarans didn’t pay attention. It’s not like prevention is difficult. Condoms are easy to use. Heck, you can even get them for free at any of the region’s sexual health clinics.
As a result of what amounts to just plain stupidity, Niagara has the dubious honour of having the fifth highest rate of gonorrhea infections in Ontario. Toronto is No. 1, Bell said, but that isn’t because Torontonians are even less smart about sex than Niagarans. Toronto is the country’s largest city, so you just expect to find more cases by weight of population.
And as it turns out, gonorrhea isn’t Niagara’s only problem.
Bell said cases of chlamydia are also on the rise.
In 2013, there were 1,117 cases, in 2014 that rose to 1,179 and by 2015 Niagara had 1,254 cases of chlamydia. That puts Niagara as having the 13th highest rate of chlamydia infections in Ontario.
I know there are many people in Niagara who want the region to be considered No.1, but this is absolutely not the way to do it.
Look, I am certainly no prude. Follow your bliss, as they say. Just don’t be a blithering moron while doing it. We’ve known how to prevent sexually transmitted infections for a long time now.
Still, if for some reason you remain unclear on the whole safer sex thing, or where to go to get help or information, the public health department has some handy links online you should click:
Info on gonorrhea: www.niagararegion.ca/living/health_wellness/ sexual health/ go nor rhea-in- niagara. aspx
Info on sexual health clinics: www. niagararegion.ca/living/health_ wellness/ sexual health/ sexual health-centres. aspx? top task =1