Just weeks after a Milwaukee HIV “cluster” event shocked the nation, it seems that another state is battling similar issues. Beaver County, a county located in Western Pennslyvania just outside of Pittsburgh, is now seeing a massive uptick in STDs, including HIV.
“I think that the younger population is more promiscuous today than probably ever before,” says Dr. Frank DiCenco at AHN’s Premier Women’s Health in Sewickley via CBS Pittsburgh.
He goes on to say that the stats for 15-24-year-olds in concern with HIV and various other STDs, including Gonoreah, are, “quite concerning and we, in our practice, have seen an uptick in the number of Gonorrhea and Chlamydia cases.”
Gonorrhea for the 15-24-year-old range is up a startling 34% while HIV has tripled in the same region.
“The HIV rate increasing 300 percent is very concerning,” says Dr. DiCenco.
And it doesn’t stop there, just over the bridge to the east, Allegheny County, which covers a large swath of Pittsburgh’s northern hills suburbs, is in crisis mode as well.
“Our incidence rates for Syphilis, Chlamydia, Gonorrhea and HIV have and continue to exceed the state’s incidence rates,” Allegheny County Health Department Director Dr. Karen Hacker said.
According to Dr. DiCenco, High School and college students simply aren’t concerned with any STD risks, essentially leading to increased STD cases.
“I’ve seen high school students who tell me they’ve had multiple sexual partners,” DiCenco said. “Ladies as young as 14. And they have what they call sex partners. Someone that is a friend that they have sex with.”
Many of the kids and young adults aren’t being tested, which is leading to more and more undiagnosed cases.
Lack of sex education is being blamed, as are kids thinking it “isn’t that big of a deal.”
