Page 6
THE BATTALION
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30, 1980
DIETING?
Cases reported^ increase^ each year
Doctor upset by students’ view on VD
Iven though we do not prescribe diets, we make\
p possible for many to enjoy a nutritious meal]
shile they follow their doctor s orders. You will]
\be delighted with the wide selection of low\
\calorie, sugar free and fat free foods in the\
iSouper Salad Area, Sbisa Dining Center Base-
\ment.
OPEN
Monday through Friday 10:45 AM-1:45 PM
QUALITY FIRST
by CINDY GEE
Battalion Reporter
Jane Doe walked into the doctor’s
office and told him she thought she
had VD. She wasn’t worried.
She had had it before, had taken
her penicillin and had forgotten ab
out it. As long as she took her birth
control pills, she felt safe. It didn’t
matter if she picked up a disease or
passed it to someone else along the
way.
Dr. C.B. Goswick Jr., director of
the Beutel Health Center at Texas
A&M University, said this is the atti
tude of many of the four or five stu
dents a day that the center treats for
venereal disease.
“Most of the students seem to take
it in stride,” he said. “It’s a little bit
disturbing. They don’t seem to get
too upset about it.
“The basic problem that we re
dealing with is students are more
permissive in their sexual behavior.
They’re more active sexually. I im
agine some people say, ‘Look, I’m
doing this for my own pleasure any
way. If I get something, I know it’s
treatable. I’ll go over there to the
health center.’”
Goswick, who has been at Texas
A&M for seven years, said the Uni
versity does not have any more of a
problem than other universities its
size, but there is still a definite
problem.
D.L. Wilson, a public health tech
nician for the Brazos County area,
said people don’t think gonorrhea is
very dangerous because it’s so com
mon. He said gonorrhea cannot kill a
person like syphilis, but it can cause
many problems if untreated.
In addition to gonorrhea and
syphilis, there are 12 other sexually
transmittable diseases including:
non-gonococcal urethritis, trichomo
niasis, genital herpes, genital warts
and lice.
A recent article in the Consultant
Medical Journal said seven of these
“The basic problem that we’re
dealing with is students are
more permissive in their sexual
behavior. They’re more active
sexually,” said Dr. C.B. Gos
wick Jr., director of Beutel
Health Center.
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ALTERATIONS'
IN THE GRAND TRADITION OF
OLD TEXAS WHERE MOTHER
TAUGHT DAUGHTER THE FINE
ART OF SEWING SO HELEN
MARIE TAUGHT EDITH MARIE
THE SECRETS OF SEWING AND
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ONLY SERVE AS AN EXCELLENT
DRY CLEANERS BUT WE SPE
CIALIZE IN ALTERING HARO TO
FIT EVENING DRESSES. TAPERED
SHIRTS. JEAN HEMS, WATCH
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tli
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have reached epidemic proportions.
Non-gonococcal urethritis is espe
cially dangerous because women can
have it without showing any symp
toms, and often spread it unknow
ingly to men. In men, however, it
usually produces pain during urina
tion and a clear, watery mucous dis
charge. It can lead to pelvic-
inflammatory disease and infertility
in women, and infection of the pros
tate gland in men if untreated.
Goswick said he usually finds out
about a woman having NGU from a
male experiencing the symptoms
who says he has had contact with her.
It has about a 95 percent cure rate.
Genital herpes, characterized by
small, painful blisters in the genital
area, has no known cure and can
cause serious reproductive compli
cations and affect newborn infants.
Some women don’t have any
symptoms with trichomoniasis, but
many experience itching, pain dur
ing urination and a grayish dis
charge. Yet, men seldom experience
the symptoms, Goswick said.
Gonorrhea is nothing new; it
seems to be an everyday thing, he
said. The increasing popularity of
oral sex, however, has created an in
crease in the occurrence of gonococ
cal pharyngitis, an article in the Con
sultant Medical Journal said.
Gonococcal Pharyngitis is the re
sult of someone having oral sex with a
male who has gonorrhea. Kissing a
person who has gonorrhea or syphilis
sores on the lips or oral cavity will
transmit the disease as well, the arti
cle said.
Perhaps a reason for the increase
in venereal diseases is that more
women are using birth control pills,
which provide no protection against
venereal disease. A condom is the
only way to prevent skin to skin con
tact.
Wilson, who interviews people in
this area with venereal diseases to
find out who they’ve had contact
with, said syphilis has risen steadily
in Brazos County from 18 reported
cases in 1976 to 63 in 1979. And this
year, he said he has already seen an
increase.
Wilson said more and more people
are going to public health clinics to
be treated because of rising medical
costs. As a result, he said it costs the
state about $7 to treat each case. That
would mean the state spent about
$2,500 to treat the 453 reported
cases of gonorrhea in Brazos Con*
last year.
Patients can usually be cured i
one treatment, he said, but fc
must return in a week for
make sure. At that time, they an
interviewed to find out
they’ve had contact with.
Wilson said in 1950 there wen
only 3,000 reported cases ofs;
in the United States. Now, hesaid
there are 6,000 cases in the stated
Texas alone. “Maybe it’s becauj
people have more sex partners now'
he said.
It is hard to make any assumption
about venereal disease statisticslo;
cause the population has grown aa!
better records are kept now. Recoro
for the Brazos County area sk
syphilis has increased steadily,
gonorrhea fluctuates.
From 1976 to 1979 there has bea
a 10 percent increase in
and a 65 percent increase in
rhea.
Goswick said the student
center has particular problems ini
In 1950 there were only 3,1
reported cases of syphilis in
United States, said D.L. Wilson,
a public health technician k
Brazos County. Now, he
there are 6,000 cases in
of Texas alone. “Maybe it’s k
cause people have more sti
partners now, ” he said.
USED
GOLD
WANTED!
ing out the contacts of married w>
pies or boyfriends and girlfriends,li
said.
“We get them in and say Loot
one of you has gonorrhea and it
didn’t just spontaneously generated
he said. “We ask them who’s bea
messing around.”
Goswick said he would liketocofr
vey to the students that venerealfr
eases are preventable with
effort. But students who suspeti
they have a venereal disease shoot
get it treated right away.
Cash paid or will swap for Aggie Ring
Diamonds,
693-1647
“We don’t try to preach, ” he said
“because it could turn them off, aol
they might fail to get treated thend
time. You can’t be too strongjudgini
them. You’ve got to sort of thinklik
they think and realize their basicalti
tudes are different from yours.
With the increased use of bird
control pijls aimyng women and tit
“frep .^qx,”; atitude of many,.f
must be aware that their chancesd
contracting a venereal disease art
greater. However, if contracted
they can be treated easily and rela
tively inexpensively.
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AGGIES!
Before you leave for the
summer
remember your friends and family back home
with Aggie T-shirts and gifts
from
^Loupors*
sta
R:
is;
Railr
gent hi
Tuesda
througl
modeo
of the <
his Der
Jim Hig
At th
aboard
boardin
whistle
Tuesday
“1 thi
that we
load up
bus thi:
East Te
opponei
Northgate —
At the corner
across from the
Post Office
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IMPORTANT NOTICE
STUDENTS WHO PRE-REGISTERED
FRIDA Y, APRIL 18
YOU MUST
TH
PRE-REGISTER AGAIN
PRE-REGISTRATION MATERIALS FOR ALL STU
DENTS WHO PRE-REGISTERED FRIDAY, APRIL 18
HAVE BEEN LOST.
Whk
wori
wee
W<
And
gooc
PRE-REGISTER AGAIN IN
Ther
So,
0WCT
spen
We'll
THE RUDDER EXHIBIT HALL
8 A.M.-5 P.M.
APRIL 28 THROUGH
FRIDAY, MAY 9