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The Students’ Terrible Demise

The thought that one mistake or slip-up and your life can change forever is a frightening one. We all realise this and live accordingly. Inevitably, we "let loose", "go with the moment", and sometimes mess up. This is possibly due to bad luck, but more often than not, alcohol (and potential drug use) has a role in the majority of sexually transmitted infections. This is the case for a surprising number of students. The media is full of statistics on rising STI levels in developing countries, where few would be unclear on the high infection rates the victims suffer. At the other end of the spectrum, many seem to think the situation in our clean-cut Europe and America is far better.

"Well, it stands to reason" you say. By comparison, better standards of care and superior access to hospitals and education from an early age should protect us. Wrong. If anything, the situation is growing rather rapidly worse. Almost daily, University College Cork (UCC) students are bombarded by safe-sex messages. The message gets through to some, but why not others? On average nationally, about 80% of college students are sexually active, of which about 50% always use condoms, 25% do so irregularly and a small but significant number don't use protection at all. These figures are shocking, but explained in part due to pure stupidity (among the legions of heavy drinkers and drug users), and a failure to properly educate from an early age in relation to sexual health.

UCC Student's Union Welfare Officer Aidan Healy maintains that rates continue to creep upwards on campus each year. This is most likely in part due to the emergence of modern sexuality - a more general acceptance that people will have sex before marriage. Inevitably, this emergence brings with it unprotected sex. Mr. Healy's first priority is that all students undergo regular testing, and this makes sense, given that a lot of sexually transmitted infections are silent ones. The SU works tirelessly (and often behind the scenes) to promote positive sexual health among students. For instance, over 10,000 free condoms and 5,000 info book­lets were given out since college began this year.The SU also continues to lobby for free STI testing on campus. Student Health Officer Dr. Michael Byrne says that sexual health has already been identified as a priority issue and he supports both this and the development of new sexual health services on campus. However, the latter will require considerable resources and training provision. For instance Dr. Byrne also feels an on-campus STI Clinic is an un-met need, a service some — but by no means all - colleges nationally provide.

On a different topic, Dr. Byrne does highlight that workload-wise, Contraception, the Morning-After Pill, STIs, and Erectile Dysfunction advice are the most common cases he is confronted with on a daily basis - in that order. The latter is rarely mentioned due to the stigma that surrounds it, but Dr. Byrne maintains many students would be surprised at the number affected by this so-called "perfor­mance anxiety". Inevitably for males entering college, there is an unrealistic expectation as regards performance, and an unspoken assumption that most students have sex Monday-Thursday without fail - "this is simply not the case" maintains Dr. Byrne. He goes on to say that while in a small number of cases, drugs such as  Viagra are necessary (in the case of impotence, for instance), the majority of affected males should not feel stigmatised or alone.

See your GP by all means, but understand this is a common occurrence, and try to relax, safe in the knowledge that most males will be affected at some stage,and that it nearly always passes quickly. Also, if this occurs regularly after drinking, you have your answer. STIs themselves fall into the categories of bacterial and viral; of which the former are generally curable via antibiotics, where as viral infections are incurable. Just because an infection is curable does not mean you should not worry about it - many can lead  to permanent infertility and organ damage. You want to avoid them in the first place!