"There's a tendency in Japan to regard STDs as young people's diseases, or
ailments that hit people who play around a lot. STD stands for sexually
transmitted disease. That means anybody who has sex can contract them. It's
those sexually active people who think they have no chance of getting an STD or
believe they're immune to them who are in the most dangerous situation,"
gynecologist and clinical psychologist Kazue Yoshino tells Shukan Josei.
Japan is the only industrialized nation where HIV contraction is increasing,
but other STDs like chlamydia, gonorrhea, herpes, genital warts and crabs are
almost "national diseases," the women's weekly says, adding that each of the
above ailments, bar the clap and chlamydia, is spreading to chronic
proportions.
"In a worst-case scenario, STDs can lead to death and also cause cancer or
sterilization. It's a sad fact that people simply don't know enough about STDs
at this stage," Yoshino says. "STDs aren't diseases that strike only those
doing something special, they are a real threat to ordinary people leading
ordinary lives."
While most of the more common STDs are spreading in Japan, physicians say the
known figures could be as little as one-tenth of the actual contraction rates.
They say the rapid recent increase in venereal disease can be blamed on such
factors as the growing numbers of men and women who have multiple sex partners,
as well as oral sex becoming generally practiced, but mostly because people who
haven't realized they've picked up something going around bonking others and
passing on their disease without realizing it.
Gynecologist Yoshino points out that STDs are spreading particularly nastily
among women in their 30s or older.
"Many of these women are having sex less often than they used to, have finished
having children and don't see a gynecologist as frequently as they once did,"
Yoshino says. "They don't consider themselves a chance of having contracted an
STD and because they're not having check-ups, it means it takes longer to find
and treat them if they are infected."
Late ZARD vocalist Izumi Sakai was being treated at the time of her death for
cancer of the cervix, a disease often caused by an STD called the human
papillomavirus.
"STDs can cause serious damage to the body in the form of cancer or
sterilization," gynecologist Yoshino warns Shukan Josei. "That's why everybody
who thinks they have nothing to do with STDs really should check to make sure."
Copyright 1999-2007, Mainchi Daily. Used with permission. All rights
reserved. Ryann Connell is a Staff Writer and Senior Desk Editor for the
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