The
microbes that cause sexually transmitted diseases are equal opportunity bugs.
They don't care if you are white or black, rich or poor, educated or illiterate,
happy or sad. If you're a warm body, you'll do. STD germs settle in an estimated
15 million Americans each year. Worldwide, they find 250 million new hosts a year.
These
numbers reflect men and women, young and old. STD germs love everybody who loves,
because they are spread by intimate body contact. The word "venereal,"
as in venereal disease, comes from the name of the Romans goddess of love, Venus.
Germs
can, however, be biologically sexist in the damage they do. Women suffer more
adverse consequences from STDs than do men because, generally, it is easier for
an STD to be transferred from a man to a woman. More harm can be done to a woman's
reproductive organs if an infection is left untreated—and, women's
infections do, in fact, go untreated more often, since women are less likely to
show symptoms of an STD. The absence of symptoms in the presence of an infection
is known medically as being "asymptomatic."
Two-thirds
of all STDs occur in people under the age of 25. This isn't necessarily because
this age group is more vulnerable to STDs. It's simply that these people are more
likely to expose themselves to the number one risk factor for STDs: having sex
with multiple partners without adequate protection from germs.
