– This year’s New Year’s resolution should be to get tested, if you have had casual and unprotected sex, say bioengineers Linda Manley and Anna Lien, who work at NITO (Norwegian Engineering and Technology Organization) and Fürst Medical Laboratory at Furuset in Oslo.
More have unprotected sex. 44 percent of those questioned have had casual sex without using a condom.
It shows figures that Norstat has collected for the NITO Institute of Bioengineering (NITO BFI).
– Don’t underestimate the risk of getting a sexually transmitted disease. Don’t think that it only happens to others, or that it’s just a matter of taking a simple course of antibiotics. In the worst case, you get health complications, or a variant that you have to live with for the rest of your life and which involves problems in future relationships, say the bioengineers.
Not testing
67 per cent of those who state that they have had casual sex without using a condom, have neglected to test themselves for venereal diseases afterwards.
Manley and Lien in NITO advise people to get tested after unprotected sex.
– You can go a long time with an infection in your body without noticing anything about it. We also know that many people find it embarrassing to get tested, or that they think that getting tested for sexually transmitted diseases is unpleasant, they say.
WARNINGS: Anna Lien (left), bioengineer for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and Linda Manley, team leader for the molecular biology department, warn against a lack of infection testing. Photo: Audun Larsen, NITO Show more
They assure that the focus is on preventing the spread of infection. Healthcare personnel do not get involved in what you have done and should not moralize.
– It is also not painful or uncomfortable to carry out a test. They are mainly carried out by taking a simple urine sample or a painless vaginal test. If you don’t want to see a doctor, buy a test at the pharmacy, they conclude.
DANGEROUS: Chemsex is growing rapidly in our neighboring country, and now the trend poses a real health risk for the LGBT+ community in Denmark. Video: Storyblocks, NTB / Dagbladet TV Show more
Increases
The gonorrhea infection is increasing. By the end of 2023, a total of 2,972 cases of infection with gonorrhea had been registered.
This is an increase of 60 per cent since 2022, when 1,858 cases of infection were registered.
This is shown by recent figures from the Institute of Public Health’s notification system for infectious diseases (MSIS).
Untreated gonorrhea in women can lead to pelvic infection and increase the risk of chronic abdominal pain, problems conceiving and ectopic pregnancy.
In men, gonorrhea can cause narrowing of the urethra, inflammation of the epididymis and inflammation of the prostate gland.
The sexually transmitted disease chlamydia can also lead to involuntary infertility.
2024-01-02 14:38:44
#Sounding #alarm #underestimate #risk
