54,000 Gonorrhea Cases were reported in California in 2015.

Sexually transmitted diseases are on the rise in California for the second year in a row, and far outpacing national averages. Since 2014, Syphilis increased by 9 percent nationally but in California it rose by 29 percent. Gonorrhea jumped 20 percent in the state and Chlamydia is at its highest level since reporting was mandated in 1990.

Experts attribute a large part of this increase to shifting attitudes among the group with the largest amount of new cases, adolescents and young adults ages 15-29. Cheri Greven at Planned Parenthood says, “California received a report in August that says teen pregnancy is down 55% since 2000, which is a huge deal, but what we’re finding is misinformation of (patients who) think they’re on the pill and protected.” People are actively obtaining and using birth control to avoid pregnancy, but that means they are having more unprotected sex, which puts them at much higher risk for contracting an STD.

But at California State University, many students also expressed a simple dislike of condoms, saying they were inconvenient and uncomfortable. Most college students are primarily interested in avoiding pregnancy, which can more easily be done now with IUDs, pills, patches, and implants. They then “shrug off” STDs like Chlamydia, Gonorrhea and Syphilis, an invincibility problem common among young people.

“Thirty years ago if you got HIV, it was a death sentence,” said Dr. Dean Blumberg, chief of pediatric infectious disease for the UC Davis Medical Center. “The treatment for HIV has gotten better – it’s easier, it’s more effective, which makes people less afraid of getting HIV. So if they’re having sex without condom use, other STDs are transmitted.”

But left undiagnosed and untreated, these STDs can wreck havok on your body, leaving permanent damage that often carries no outward symptoms of any problems. But even if the person doesn’t know they are infected, they’re quite capable of infecting others, further perpetuating the epidemic.

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It’s so simple and convenient to get the answers to such an important question as your sexual health. You owe it to yourself and to your loved ones to find out for sure if you have an STD. Schedule a test today.