Homosexual males at Tufts have been experiencing elevated rates of gonorrhea this semester, according to Medical Director of Tufts Health Service Margaret Higham.
"[There has been a] significant rise this year in the number of contagious infections among men who sleep with men," she said, specifically citing a spread of gonorrhea.
Higham said that while only a small number of cases of the disease have been diagnosed so far, those cases still constitute a significant increase from past years.
Even a small cluster of diagnoses in a short amount of time raises questions, she said, adding that Tufts' Health Service typically goes a year or two without a positive test."
Higham did not specify how many cases of gonorrhea have been diagnosed in Tufts students because of the sensitivity of the issue and the small size of the Tufts campus. She did confirm, however, that the only cases detected this semester have involved male students who received the infection from other males.
Gonorrhea is transmitted through sexual intercourse and oral sex, but not through kissing.
According to Higham, one of the detected cases was transmitted through oral sex. "Our student body population as a whole tends to think of oral sex as really safe," she said.
Signs posted at and around Health Services early in the semester warned students about these cases, calling the spread an "outbreak." No positive diagnoses have been made since the signs appeared.
Director of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) Center Dona Yarbrough spoke with Higham after the cases were detected. Yarbrough warned students in all LGBT groups about the spread of gonorrhea.
According to Nurse Practitioner Janet Mozes, Health Services did not plan additional sexual health programming for students as a result of the gonorrhea diagnoses.
"'Outbreak' was maybe an overstated word," she said.
Higham thinks that a good way to educate students about STDs is through word of mouth among their friends.
She empathized with students who may have felt "blindsided" by a diagnosis of oral gonorrhea.
"Symptoms aren't that prominent," she said. "It's hard to have to be so safe about everything all the time."
Gonorrhea can be contracted in the throat, rectum or urethra. In men, symptoms include a sore throat, a pus-like discharge from the penis, a burning sensation during urination and abdominal pain. Symptoms in women are similar but also include abdominal bleeding and irregular vaginal discharge.
According to Higham, students should "be alert," as symptoms can be mild, leading those infected to believe their occurrence is nothing significant.
The posted signs only warned against gonorrhea, but Higham said that other STDs, such as human papillomavirus (HPV) - the virus type that causes genital warts - are much more common.
Health Services diagnoses HPV "at least weekly, if not daily," Higham said.
Mozes said that Health Services does not run educational programs on particular STDs, partially because of the lack of student time and interest.
"It is pulling teeth to get anyone to come to any outreach event on health," she said.
She noted that some students were thankful for the announcements, and said that students are not necessarily uninterested in sexual health, but are preoccupied with their busy schedules.
Mozes is currently working with the Student Health Advisory Board (SHAB) to find out how to best educate students about issues of sexual health and safety.
Mozes said the SHAB is "trying to get substantially more input from students," adding that "it's pretty hard to get a consensus."
Yarbrough said that in addition to hosting discussions in small groups throughout the year, the LGBT Center is planning on bringing a speaker to the LGBT Men's Group in April to discuss sexual health.
Although no cases of gonorrhea were diagnosed in female students this semester, Higham said that females are typically diagnosed with gonorrhea more often than males, partly due to the fact that that females are often tested for the infection more often than males are.
"Women routinely get tested" during regular gynecological exams, Higham said. "Not too many guys come in for routine testing."
She added that testing for STDs can be expensive and not always covered by insurance policies, but that the Tufts Student Health Plan provides full coverage for STD testing.
Higham said that Health Services has worked to lower the costs of STD screening so that men will have as little trouble as possible getting tested. Gonorrhea tests currently cost $42 at Health Services.
Still, "a lot of students go off campus for testing," she said.
The students who were diagnosed with gonorrhea were treated for it at Tufts, although Higham said that in the past, students have been hospitalized after contracting the infection.
Higham said that Tufts Health Service follows the guidelines of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) in treating STDs. MDPH guidelines recommend treating gonorrhea with the antibiotic Ceftriaxone.
