THE BATTALION MAROON LIFE 16
Transmitting information Medical experts advocate awareness regarding sexually transmitted infections, erasing stigma around getting tested By Nathan Varnell @newsncv
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Haylea Keith — THE BATTALION
The taboo around sexually transmitted infections is often more dangerous than the actual infection, as a result of untreated symptoms.
louded by misconceptions and stigma, the most common medical conditions can appear life-altering. “We had a patient with a very common viral condition, a little genital wart, which is a [Human papillomavirus infection] effect,” Dr. Hector Chapa, clinical assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Texas A&M College of Medicine, said. Condylomas — genital warts — may be unsightly and undesirable, Chapa said, but they’re not life-threatening and are relatively easy to treat. They are manageable symptoms resulting from one of the milder sexually transmitted infections, or STIs. “I told her this [infection] was not going to influence her health or ability to have children. ‘Monitor it and you’re going to be fine — it is one of the most common conditions out there.’” Yet, breaking down into tears, the patient took the news as if she had been diagnosed with a terminal illness, Chapa said. “It’s heartbreaking. I’m not minimizing the condition; this is a real health issue,” Chapa said. “But there was this stigma over something that should be like, ‘Oh, thank goodness, doctor.’” In the past year, A&M’s Student Health Services, or SHS, said it identified positive cases of HIV in persons who had no idea they contracted it. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported annual cases of STIs reached an all-time high for the sixth-consecutive year in 2019, according to an April 2021 press release. The most commonly reported were chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis, which doctors once believed was close to being eliminated from the United States. Health experts and advocates at A&M want students to normalize communicating their sexual concerns and needs to professionals, regardless of background. Whether they are coming from a family who didn’t talk about
