RUMORED HIV/STD OUTBREAK CAUSES DORM RESIDENTS TO SEEK TESTING AND AWARENESS
Within the past two months, the University of Nevada, Reno has dealt with numerous rumors surrounding HIV/STD outbreaks within the eight dormitories located on campus.
“Two to three weeks ago there were all these rumors,” said Melissa Beninsig, a freshman living in the Nye Residence Hall. “I never actually knew anyone involved, but to the level the rumors got to they obviously stem from the truth, so there is truth in them.”
The rumored outbreak began at the end of March, just a week before National STD Awareness month. The rumors began in the Argenta and Nye Residence Halls, where they claimed a student had contracted HIV from drug use. The student then proceeded to have sex with eight residents within Argenta, furthermore adding to the scare and rumors. Nye was also hit with rumored cases of herpes and Chlamydia according to an anonymous source that works within the dorms.
The Student Health Center, UNR and Resident Directors and Assistants in the halls worked hard to expel the rumors. But a week later on April 4, news feeds from Facebook and Twitter blew up, voicing concerns about the alleged HIV/STD outbreaks. Shortly after, local and national news channels and papers began broadcasting and writing about the rumors as well.
News 4 KRNV Reno wrote “rumors of HIV outbreak at UNR spread like wildfire,” saying that “concerned students flocked to the Student Health Center asking how the virus is contracted or if they were already at risk.” Dr. Cheryl Hug-English, the Medical Director of the Student Health Center stated that “we started getting students saying there was an HIV outbreak on campus,” and added that “there is no truth to that rumor.” KOLO 8 and MSNBC printed articles explaining the situation as well.
The students were still not convinced. With Facebook and Twitter still being used as a news source, students were sucked in by the juicy gossip of these alleged outbreaks. The Down Under Café along with the DC Store – cafeterias located on the first floor of Argenta Hall where students living within the dorms get their “meal plan” meals – served as perfect places to start and hear the rumors causing them to spread even further within.
“I work at the DC Store but live off-campus,” said Celeste Graham, a sophomore living in the Highlands Apartments. “You hear a lot of things when you work in a store that pretty much only serves students living in the dorms, and by hearing the same rumor over and over again from so many different people, you sometimes start to believe it.”
Another resident claimed to hear the rumors while eating lunch at the Down Under Café and posted about it on Twitter.
“The rumors not only spread to students in the dorms, but around campus,” said Madison McKenzie, the freshman and Nye Hall resident who tweeted about the rumor. “I went to the health center immediately to get checked and wanted to learn more about HIV and STD’s.”
Luckily, UNR was holding it’s annual free STD/STI testing at the Student Health Center. The event took place on April 2 through 13 for all students who attend UNR. All they needed was their student ID to proceed with the testing. With this event, the students were taken into a private room where they either gave a urine or blood sample to test for HIV, Syphilis, Chlamydia and Gonorrhea. Anyone who is sexually active was encouraged to take advantage of the free testing.
“There was an unfounded rumor of an HIV infection on the university campus,” said Dr. Hug-English, in an interview done last month. “Since this is National STD Awareness Month, it makes this an ideal time to emphasize the importance of safe sexual practices.”
The state of Nevada is ranked 22nd in the nation with the number of people who have contracted the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Over 6,000 residents are living with the virus according to avert.org 2009 HIV and AIDS Statistic chart. The report states that Clark County has the highest number of residents with 2,007, Washoe County in second with 790 and Carson in third with 74 since 2006 according to the Web-based HIV/AIDS Information for Northern Nevada. 75 percent of the students that attend UNR are Nevada residents and come from the three most populated counties.
This virus can be contracted by having unprotected sex or needle sharing, and is virus that causes AIDS. HIV weakens a person’s ability to fight infections and cancer according to WebMD.com. 400,000 students between the ages of 18-24 are having unprotected sex with 100,000 of them report being intoxicated according to Collegeparents.org in a survey taken in 2006.
“People don’t care,” said Malcolm Redmond, a junior living in Sierra Hall. “They get drunk and just have sex with anyone.”
UNR has yet to have a confirmed case of HIV – even with the rumors and testing – but various sexually transmitted infections and diseases ranging from human papillomavirus (HPV, the cause of genital warts) to chlamydia have been spreading around the dorms for the past two decades according to the Student Health Center.
“I have been a student at the University of Nevada, Reno since 2007,” said Jillian Sesto, a grad student who has attended UNR for the past five years. “There have always been little scares here and there, but never have I seen one get this out of hand – probably because of the social media outlets.”
In 2009, UNR’s rate of HPV was 3.6 percent according to a survey from the American College Health Association. The ACHA also said that in the same year, 2.1 percent of UNR students contracted chlamydia, which was more than twice the national average. In 2010, the rate of HPV among UNR students living in the dorms dropped to 2.3 percent and the rate of chlamydia dropped to 1.1 percent, according to the Student Health Center statistics.
“There’s always hype about HPV but it is all legitimate,” said Dr. Hug-English. “It’s nothing new, HVP has been a common STD for a long time and we can treat them, but we can’t really cure those infections.”
Even with the decreased rates of STD/STI’s, the residence halls and organizations on campus have and are still trying implement programs to spread awareness. One Nye Hall RA started doing a program called “Sex in the Dark” to answer resident’s questions about sex.
“We had a speaker from Plan Parenthood come in to answer questions about sex,” said the RA. “The residents put their anonymous questions in a box and the speaker answered them.”
This program was created to promote safe sex and make students more aware about sex and the infections that could come with it. It mainly encouraged the proper use of condoms to protect the residents from any infections. They also handed out pamphlets and flyers – which explained how to check for any infections and where to get tested as well. Emma Crossman, an RA in Argenta Hall, also implemented “Sex in the Dark” to her residents last year.
“Over 30 students were in the common room,” said Crossman, “it was a good turn out and very informative.”
One student, Chloe Kaeo, remembers the program Crossman put on, saying that “it was helpful and reassuring that others have the same questions about sex and infections as I do.” She also remembers exciting her freshman year of college was.
“The dorms made my college experience a hundred times better,” said Kaeo, the now-20-year-old junior living off campus, “I met so many people and always had something to do, temptations of college life were overwhelming – especially because everyone wanted to have sex.”
According to the Archives of Sexual Behavior (2009) they conducted a research experiment that asked 63 college students to complete daily diaries of their sexual activities over a three-week period. Researchers found 32 percent were consistent condom users, 25 percent were inconsistent, and 42 percent never used condoms. 90 percent of them remembered getting HIV/STD prevention information from their high school, but they obviously forgot it.
College students are educated about these matters and know what can happen when they do not have safe sex. 15 out of the 20 students living within the dormitories at UNR who were interviewed felt like there was a problem with STI/STD’s on campus. 13 out of 20 felt that the students are not getting enough information about these crucial topics.
“It’s common sense,” said Michael Magno, a junior living off-campus. “We learn this in high school – DON’T BE A FOOL, WRAP YOUR TOOL!”