"research is very "7m portari O e rh apf
someday there will be a vaccine for the
bisW. But until ffie'pu6ucfs educated
in the extent of the disease and the
problems involved in ending the
epidemic, it will be difficult to raise much
money, he said.
He added that VD is a social problem,
not just a disease, and public apathy only
worsens the situation.
'The tragedy of VD is that it's the
most preventable disease that I know of."
girSlcy phi i is" has become systemic "
it is in the blood cells and is traveling
all over the body:
Primary syphilis is difficult to
diagnose because a Wood test doesn't
always work. The only symptom is a
""- hereare"ho""sy rnpton i$lol a ten f
syphilis until the very end of the stage.
A person may not notice any
symptoms for 20 years or longer.
But latent syphilis eventually
results in heart disease, brain or spinal
quite some time and it is weeks or
months before it becomes systemic,
invading other parts of the body.
If untreated, the bacteria spreads
through the body and can cause
the baby may be Winded while passing
through the birth canal. This is not 'as
big a problem as it once was since
antibacterial drops are now put in all
babies' eyes as soon as they are born.
and where to
. the cure . .
ei IV.
seven times with VD," Underwood saidT
"and he just doesn't care."
" AccoVdihg to Underwood, contacting
the disease more than once is no joke,
because damage will be done even in the
first few days of the infection, before
treatment.
"That young man probaWy won't live
until he's thirty."
He said each infection causes some
scar tissue and in a man this will
eventually cause a stricture of the urinary
Lincoln-Lancaster
County Health Department
Address: 2200 St. Marys (north of Lincoln
General Hospital)
Price: Tests, treatment and drugs are
free.
Time: 1 pm Tuesdays and Fridays
(appointment recommended)
Some hassle, known violations of
patients' confidence.
by Michael (0 J.) Nelson
An ounce of prevention is worth a
pound of penicillin.
That might be a way to sum up the
thinking of the Lincoln-Lancaster County
Health Department According to Lester
Jensen, health department education
director, education is the best way to
combat the spread of venereal disease.
This is the reasoning behind such
programs as the "VD Blues" telecast and
the rash of brochures, magazine and
newspaper articles.
It is also the reasoning behind the
health department's own program to
inform junior and senior high schoolers
about the causes and symptoms of
syphilis and gonorrhea. Jensen said
representatives of his department spoke
to more than 400 students last year.
"When we go into a classroom," he
said, "we find the students are more
honest than they were in the past If you
try and moralize to them they'll tell you
to go to hell. So, we don't give them the
purity stuff."
The program is organized around a
discussion session. Often, the kids get so
involved that the talk has to be stopped,
Jensen said. "If we didn't stop it, It'd go
all night."
He said today's youth are more
knowtedgeagle than when he was their
age. Just the same, he said, they often
don't use good judgment
"If they had experience and
judgment" he said, "they'd be just great.
But experience doesn't always mean good
judgment I know a lot of people my age
(64 years) who've had a lot of experience
and they're still damned fools."
But if education fails to stop people
from contacting the diseases, he said,
there is always penicillin. It has almost
become as traditional as cherry pie.
Penicillin, and it's derivatives are among
the most common antibiotics used today.
They've been used to combat venereal
disease since 1943.
If a person is allergic to penicillin, he
or she can be treated with a number of
other drugs, according to Celeste
Knipmeyer, UHS community health
nurse. Only one of the drugs,
tetracycline, is given orally, she said. The
others are all injections.
A male will not be given penicillin or
other antibiotics unless his problem has
been definitely diagnosed as VD.
For the average man, the diagnosis test
is about as painless as the treatment.
A Wood sample is taken to test a man
page 6
for syphilis. If syphilis is diagnosed, he is
given penicillin.
Gonorrhea testing for a man is
somewhat different A man infected with
gonorrhea he will have a pus-like
discharge from his penis. A smear from
this discharge is taken and is then
inspected under a microscope. If the
disease does not show up upon
inspection, a culture is done and then
incubated for 48 hours.
Knipmeyer said a gonorrhea test for a
woman is uncomf ortaWe but not painful.
The test involves a pelvic examination. A
smear is then taken from the pus-like
discharge which or gi nates in the infected
cervix.
Even if a woman is infected, she said,
there is only a 50 per cent chance the
disease will show up on a smear. If it does
not show up, a culture is taken. Like the
male test, it is incubated for 48 hours.
Ten per cent of the women who have
the disease still don't test out as positive
on the culture, she said. If the doctor
believes a woman has gonorrhea even
though all the tests are negative, she said,
a penicillin shot is given.
Once a person receives treatment for
VD, she said. University Health requests
that he or she : not drink alcoholic
beverages for three days. It also
recommends the person not have
intercourse for at least one week.
A follow-up examination is given a
week after treatment, she added.
One of the most important aspects in
stopping the spread of VD is contact
counseling. .Both UHS and the
Lancaster-Lincoln Health Department use
this technique.
Both of the counselors are
professionally trained, Jensen and
Knipmeyer said. All information gathered
is kept confidential they said.
"A big advantage we have today,"
Jensen said, "is that the kids are honest.
We've used this professional contact
interviewing since November of 1971.
The doctors used to talk to those people
who had V.D and some guys wouldn't tell
who they had had sex with. That made
our job impossible."
He said patients would occasionally
say they had gotten the disease in a dirty
bathroom.
"The only way you can get gonorrhea
is through having sex," he said. So, when
people would tell the doctor that they
had got it in a bathroom, the doctor
would say something like 'that's a helluva
place to have sex.' "
University Health Service
Address: UNL campus, 15th and U St.
Price: tests, gonorrhea-$3 for men,
$550 for women; syphilis $2
either sex. Treatment and drugs,
free.
Time: 8 am- 10 pm
Typical UHS hassle (forms, waiting, etc.),
but confidential.
m a
Homosexuality and venereal disease?
The relationship between the two was
l M A 1 H uSlrl MA Pi it thp
annual lynvicvi iw ys
homosexual is coming out of the closet
and medical personnel are starting to pay
mnra ttninn n fhoir nrnhlomc
A heterosexual relationship is not
necessary for the spread of syphilis or
rrhoa In fart three who have
same-sex relationships are more likely to
Sponsored by the State Health
Department
Address: 3830 Adams (Family Planning
building)
Price: Tests, treatment and drugs are
free
Time: 7 pm - 9 pm Thursdays
Minimal hassle, confidential.
and V
contact one or both.
National studies of homosexuality
show that most homosexual males have
more sexual contact with a larger number
of partners than their heterosexual
counterparts. Females reportedly are not
as promiscuous.
According to James Elias, a member of
the National Commission on Venereal
Disease, many homosexual males have as
many as 15 sexual partners each week.
However, he says the average is less than
five.
In a speech delivered to the 1971
International Venereal Disease
Symposium, Elias said many homosexuals
do not support the medical profession in
its efforts to curb the spread of the
disease. He said gay people are suspicious
of a profession which has traditionally
had a negative attitude towards same-sex
relationships.
Fear of harassment from legal
authorities is another reason gays
Equilibria
Address: 4924 Poppleton Ave., Omaha
Price: Tests, treatment and drugs are
free.
Time: 7 pm -1 0:30 pm every day but
Sunday; 1 pm 5 pm Monday,
Wednesday and Saturday
I Young people run program, no hassles,
confidential.
sometimes neither seek treatment nor
divulge their contacts. According to
Lester Jensen, Lancaster-Lincoln County
Health Department education director,
these fears are groundless.
Homosexuals in Lincoln are less likely
to contact VD than those in many large
cities, he said. He explained that the lack
of gay bars in town lowers the likelihood
of homosexuals making numerous
contacts.
"I doubt if we've seen more than five
homosexuals during the last three years,"
he said. But he added, homosexuality is
turn outside t
