 "Photo: Priscilla Reyna-Ovalle")
 "Photo: Priscilla Reyna-Ovalle")
It’s worth it to wait until marriage, knowing the potential consequences of the human tendency for “uncontrollable decision-making with the opposite sex,” an educator said Oct. 29 in a program on sexual health in Loftin Student Center.
William Sandburg, senior male health educator for the University Health System, and Diana Lowe, a registered nurse with the University Health Science Center sex education program, addressed the main goals of sexual education: to provide information on preventing unwanted pregnancy and disease, so people can assess that information to foster social responsibility.
“Sex is not a recreational activity,” Lowe said.
Sandburg and Lowe spoke to an audience of 12 students in the craft room, most studying or tuned out of the presentation, with only three students actively participating, two from the Peer Educators program.
That kind of turnout reflects how the information that people, especially college students, need to know often goes unheard and results in unwanted pregnancy or contributes to an epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases, Sandburg said.
With people having sex at a younger age and getting married older, there’s a greater length of time for having multiple partners, heightening risk for spreading or contracting an STD, according to a 2006 periodical by the Journal of Adolescent Health cited in the speakers’ PowerPoint presentation.
“There’s no way of knowing how many STDs are out there today,” Lowe said, adding countless variations infect approximately 19 million people in the United States per year.
The three types of STDs include viruses, bacteria and parasitic infections. Human papilloma virus, herpes, HIV and AIDS are the most common, incurable viruses treated by medication, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Protozoa cause trichomoniasis, the most common STD, accounting for nearly half of infections.
More than 8,000 new cases of chlamydia and 2,000 of gonorrhea, bacterial infections that can be treated with antibiotics, occur in San Antonio each year, according to 2008 reports by the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District.
Lowe stated that more than half of all sexually active people will have an STD by age 24, and most won’t realize they are infected.
The possibility of contracting an STD is always present when there is skin-to-skin contact or fluid exchange, Sandburg said, noting that both sexes spread STDs.
Vaccines and medications that treat some STDs as well as contraceptive methods and birth control are available for free or at reduced cost to students at the University Health System clinics. If a student earns less than $1,000 per year, the clinic will pay for most or all of the medication.
The most Sandburg has seen anyone pay for contraception is $17.
The Peer Educators provide free condoms in addition to information and counseling in Room 120 of Chance Academic Center.
Students may have up to 10 free counseling sessions with Dr. Dawn McFadden, student assistance program counselor. Call her office at 486-1460 to schedule an appointment.
“We can refer the student to a counselor if it’s something over our heads,” said Kara Samuels-Mendez, Peer Educator and psychology sophomore.
Sandburg reminded students that no contraception is 100 percent effective, and abstinence is the only proven method against pregnancy and disease.
Next to Mississippi, Texas has the second-highest teen pregnancy rate in the nation, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. Every 10 minutes, a teen in Texas gets pregnant.
The most effective methods of birth control are monthly injections or a surgically implanted contraceptive, which can last up to three years and is 99 percent effective, according to the CDC. The matchstick-size insert on the arm costs about $500.
Emergency contraception, known as the morning-after pill, has a 25 percent failure rate that increases in time, becoming ineffective 120 hours after intercourse.
No methods of birth control will protect against STDs. Sandburg noted that condoms are only 85 percent effective against pregnancy, and they remain the only real preventive method against STDs.
The risk for becoming pregnant is greatly increased during ovulation, which occurs 10-11 days between menstrual periods when one egg is released for fertilization, surviving only 12-24 hours, according to Americanpregnancy.org. Sperm can survive up to five days or even longer.
Sandburg recommends that men visit clinics with dedicated educators for male sexual health, including the downtown, West Side and East Side clinics. For addresses and additional locations, visit the University Health System Web site.
For assistance, call Sandburg’s office at the downtown clinic at 207-2437.
The UTHSC Web site for sexual health can be accessed here.
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