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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Teens urged to 'pee in a cup'

Province wants youths to get tested for STIs

By: Jen Skerritt

Posted: 03/19/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

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One of the Winnipeg bus shelters aimed at getting youths to get tested for STIs. (KEN GIGLIOTTI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS )

Should I get tested?

The WRHA says you should get tested for chlamydia and gonorrhea if:

You have sex with a new partner.

You or your partner are sexually active and have not been tested.

You know your current or past partner has an STI.

The condom breaks or you have unprotected sex.

You or your partner has shared needles for drugs, tattooing or piercing.

You or your partner has any STI symptoms.

You have been or think you might have been forced to have sex.

Testing is confidential and clinics across the city offer drop-in testing or by appointment. For more information, visit peeinacupwinnipeg.ca

Alarming rates of sexually transmitted infections among Winnipeg youth have prompted health officials to urge teens to "pee in a cup" and get tested.

Buses and bus stop shelters across the city are adorned with a giant urine cup as part of Winnipeg Regional Health Authority's month-long push to get more youth into clinics to be tested for chlamydia and gonorrhea.

In the past four years, Manitoba has recorded some of the highest per capita rates of chlamydia and gonorrhea in the country as the number of cases skyrocketed among teens and young adults age 14 to 25. Both sexually transmitted infections (STIs) carry few, if any, noticeable symptoms, but can cause pelvic inflammatory disease and infertility if left untreated in women.

WRHA medical officer Dr. Pierre Plourde said shame, guilt and the fear of being seen by parents and friends still discourages many teens and young adults from getting tested for STIs that can be easily treated with antibiotics. Recent focus groups conducted in private and public high schools and among high-risk teens on the street uncovered that most Winnipeg youth know virtually nothing about gonorrhea and chlamydia, and feel uncomfortable getting the facts on safe sex from a teacher or parent.

"They're not getting this information in the schools," Plourde said. "They're getting some form of sex ed but they know nothing of chlamydia or gonorrhea. They're ignorant."

Rates of STIs like gonorrhea have been rising across Canada since the mid-1990s when health care workers noticed a shift toward more high-risk sexual behaviour often dubbed "condom fatigue." People no longer saw HIV as a death sentence and infection rates began to climb.

Plourde said many teens worry about developing a "bad reputation" if they pull a condom out of their bag.He said teens are turning to their older siblings and friends for information on sex and hopes the new campaign will get them in for testing and educate them about how to protect themselves.

The province sets the curriculum for sex education in Manitoba but allows school division to implement the program. Darryl Gervais, acting director of Manitoba Education's instruction, curriculum and assessment branch, said he doesn't believe there are any gaps in the province's sexual education program. The sexuality curriculum promotes abstinence as the safest choice and students start to learn about STIs in Grade 5. In Grade 7, Gervais said they must be able to explain the symptoms of infections such as gonorrhea and chlamydia.

Gervais said it's up to school division to train teachers on how to deliver sex-ed, but that the province has never audited the differences between programs or learning outcomes.

"There's been discussions around these things and what should be included in the curriculum," he said.

"Delivery of the curriculum is up to school divisions."

The most recent federal data show that Manitoba has the highest rate of chlamydia of any province and the second highest rate of gonorrhea, behind Saskatchewan. Recently released provincial statistics from 2009 show that close to half of new chlamydia and gonorrhea infections reported in Manitoba are among women age 15 to 24 and that pregnant mothers have passed along infections to newborns.

Five years ago, health officials were unaware of any infections passed along to babies. Last year, data showed that two infants were diagnosed with chlamydia, and another two were diagnosed with gonorrhea. Plourde said these were likely congenital infections and that transmission could be prevented if the mother was treated before giving birth.

"We don't think we have an out-of-control (chlamydia) outbreak (but) we certainly do have the highest-per-capita rates in Canada," he said.

jen.skerritt@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 19, 2010 B2

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