The number of reported sexually transmitted diseases in Central Florida rose 14.1 percent from 1995 to 2005, according to data from the Florida Department of Health.
Health officials are uncertain as to whether the increase is due to more infections or if more people are getting tested.
Karen Yerkes, advanced registered nurse practitioner and coordinator for the Women's Health Clinic at UCF, said that since March and throughout the summer, more people have been coming in for testing. "The numbers may be up because more people are getting tested," Yerkes said.
In the 2006-2007 academic year, Health Services offered chlamydia and gonorrhea testing on campus. Of the 1,807 men and women tested, 6 percent tested positive for either disease.
Last spring, Health Services offered free HIV testing. Two students tested positive.
According to the Center for Disease Control, about half of new reported cases of STD infections in the U.S. occur within people between the ages of 15 to 24.
"People think they should be tested only if they have symptoms," Yerkes said. But some people may be infected with an STD without having symptoms.
"We call [chlamydia] the silent infection because it tends to be a long time before a person would be having signs of infection. They can carry it for a long time," Yerkes said.
Not all students decide to get tested, said Peter Mastroianni, coordinator of Education and Training for UCF Health Services. One of the reasons for this is the cost of testing.
"They're not cheap," Mastroianni said. "In fact, we've tried to bargain with lab companies to get a cheaper price for a range of tests, and it's just not in their advantage to do so. Some [students] are checked through a blood test, some are checked through a urine test, some are checked by just observation of symptoms. So it's not as easy to diagnose everything, which is one of the problems."
At the Health Center, chlamydia and gonorrhea can be tested at the same time through a urine sample or blood culture, costing $40 with results ready the next day.
HIV testing can also be done at the Health Center. Tests range in price and time needed for results. The Western Blot test delivers results in three weeks. The OraQuick test takes only 30 minutes. Both tests cost $48.
The Oral Swab test costs $15, with results in three weeks.
Syphilis testing can cost up to $28.
Yerkes said that the difference between testing rendered at the Health Center and that done at Health Services has to do with confidentiality and anonymity.
The Health Center does not require personal information and provides students with a phone number and a case number to verify results.
While all patient information is confidential, at the Health Center, all STD test results are added to the patient's medical records.
Mastroianni said some students may also feel uncomfortable about getting tested.
"The students need to take some responsibility for themselves and ask to be checked for [STDs] if they are sexually active," Mastroianni said. "We all have things we're uncomfortable talking about … if you're hiding it, they won't see it."
In the UCF Executive Summary Spring 2007 conducted by Health Services for the American College Health Association-National College Health Assessment, 25 percent of both male and female UCF students claimed to be abstinent, 75 percent of students said they've had one or more partners within the last school year, 32.9 percent said that they use condoms and 5.3 percent reported using no forms of birth control at all.
"Use condoms even if you're on birth control because there is no other type of birth control that protects against [STDs]," Mastroianni said. "Get vaccinated and get tested on a regular basis."
The Health Center and the Recreation and Wellness Center both give out free condoms.
Yerkes believes condom use has decreased because once girls start taking birth control pills, they think they are protected and forget about using condoms.
"Well, they're protected from pregnancy, but not from the STDs," Yerkes said.
The pharmacy on campus has seen an increase in Plan B (the morning after pill) purchases as condom purchases decrease.
"[Plan B is] the pill you can take if you've had an 'oops' or the condom broke or something," Yerkes said.
Mastroianni said condoms are certainly the best protection for preventing STDs, but they are not 100 percent effective because some STDs are spread through skin-to-skin contact.
"We have had students react, [saying] 'But I was using a condom. How could I have possibly gotten anything?' ... You can still get something, but [condoms] do greatly reduce the risk, absolutely," Mastroianni said.
Health Services plans a poster campaign, Safe-Sex 101, in the fall to educate people about college norms and behavior regarding sex and STDs.
"A lot of people [typically] misperceive what is actually going on," Mastroianni said. "At most colleges, the perception is that everybody is doing absolutely everything … because this is college. The bottom line is, it's just not true. Not every [one of] 47,000 [students is] getting drunk every week and not all 47,000 are having sex constantly at every chance they get."
Social work major Whitney Kelly, 20, also works as a health advocate and an HIV counselor for Health Services.
"We want to reach as many people as we can to get tested because HIV is something that's getting more and more prevalent every day," Kelly said. "We want to make sure people are using protection. We do a lot of programs as far as safer sex, contraception, [and] everything like that. Basically, we want to have people know their options, know how to protect themselves and know the consequences if not."
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