England’s West Midlands Health Protection Agency, has published a study which has found that STD rates more than doubled among people ages 45-plus in just the last ten years.
According to the researchers, "changes in behavioral and social patterns" among older adults may be the source of the increase in STDs. As divorce rates have risen, more and more older people are single and in the dating pool. As the Internet has caught on among this generation, so has online dating. And then there’s the fact that this is the Viagra Generation … and the increased ability of men to perform as they age means more opportunities exist for contracting STDs.
A final reason may be the most provocative of all: the lack of knowledge about STDs among this population. While much has been done to alert today’s young men and women about the risks, the population that grew up in the pre-AIDS era was given little — if any — teaching or training on any of the ways to prevent STDs. That lack of knowledge may be leading even the most conservative of them to unwittingly engage in high-risk sex.
The study goes on to suggest that increased use of condoms among older people who are sexually active, and increased awareness of this increase in STD cases among members of the medical community treating patients 45-plus are good first steps toward stemming the tide of these diseases in this generation.
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