Nearly four out of five young Irish people have no plans to get STI tested this year, a new survey revealed yesterday.
A paltry 22% of adults said they will get checked out, while about one-third (37%) have researched their symptoms online.
Meanwhile, just 14% of the people quizzed between 18 and 24 said they had an STI test last year.
Dr Dominic Rowley, of LetsGetChecked, who polled 1,000 people as part of the research, said: “There is an epidemic of STIs in the western world at the moment.
”This is something that urgently needs to be addressed. The findings are particularly alarming in this era of increased information and ease of access to testing.”
More than one quarter (27%) of 25-to-34 year-olds admitted they had Googled their symptoms in the Sexual Health Awareness and Guidance (SHAG) survey.
A HSE study last year found gonorrhoea and chlamydia infections were up 7% and syphilis infections were up 22% in 2018 compared to the previous year. The LetsGetChecked’s research to coincide with Sexual Health Awareness and Guidance (SHAG) Week also found Irish people are frequently checking the internet for answers.
The online “self-diagnosis’ phenomenon is often motivated due to symptoms but the reality is that many STIs have no symptoms at all.
Dr Rowley added: “While checking for symptoms online from a trusted source is of course, reasonable it is vital to remember that many STIs are silent, particularly women.
“My huge concern about this is that silent STIs can lead to serious problems later in life, such as infertility.”
