A Public Health Nurse with the Huron County Health Unit says they are seeing a significant increase in the number of sexually transmitted infections.
Kate Underwood says there seems to be a trend in terms of risk behaviour.
"There's lots of changes and trends that we're seeing just in terms of risk behaviour and different sexual health behaviours among people. The other piece that's important to consider is that more people are getting tested, which is what we would like to see and that can influence the rates as well."
She says the use of condoms has decreased in the last year and people are having more partners, so both of those trends increase the chances of contracting an STI. But she says testing is easy and they point out to people there are several different options.
"A lot of people don't want to go for testing unless they have symptoms and we really want people to know that the STIs that we're seeing now, such as chlamydia and gonorrhea can present a-symptomatic or without symptoms, so unless someone goes for testing, there's no way of knowing whether or not they have contracted STI's."
Underwood says the Health Unit is open some evenings for people who cannot see them during the day. More information can be found on the Huron County Health Unit web page.
