From my research, I have realized that contrary to the expectations of many people, STDs especially HIV are prevalent among the elderly. According to the CDC, in the year 2016, almost half of the people living with HIV were aged 50 years and above (CDC, 2020) . This is a shocking finding since one would think that the elderly are not sexually active and as a result, they are not likely to contract STDs including HIV.
I was able to find out that there are various factors that are likely to increase the risk of the elderly to contract HIV. First is the fact that contrary to what most people think, the elderly are sexually active. The existence of drugs that boost sexual performance such as Viagra is making most elderly men to continue with their sexual exploits just like the younger generation thus putting them at risk of contracting STDs (CDC, 2020) . The elderly men also have a lot of disposable income for example proceeds from their retirement benefits and they can easily lure young women seeking flashy lifestyles into sex which increases their risk of contracting STDs significantly. Also, most elderly ladies are not likely to use protection because they are less worried about getting pregnant and this increases their risk of contracting STDs greatly (CDC, 2020) . The physiological changes that post-menopausal women undergo including thinning of the lining of the vagina and reduced vaginal secretions increase the risk of abrasions which further increase the risk of contracting STDs especially HIV.
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In the course of my research, I came across more interesting information regarding elderly and STDS particularly HIV. It was interesting to find out that HIV symptoms in the elderly might mimic or resemble symptoms of other chronic conditions that affect the elderly which make it hard to think of testing for HIV. Instead, most health care practioners will order tests aimed at diagnosing the other diseases while forgetting about HIV. For example, in the elderly, HIV might present with dementia which most physicians would mistake for dementia associated with old age and thus ignore testing for HIV (Clark, 2006) . Also, most elderly people would be embarrassed to test for HIV and this makes diagnosis of HIV among the elderly difficult. Health care workers also rarely test for HIV among the elderly because they are considered a low-risk group and this further makes it hard to diagnose HIV among the elderly. The delayed diagnosis means that they start their treatment late when the disease has already progressed and this worsens the prognosis.
Treatment of STDs is also a challenge among the elderly which worsens their prognosis. Most elderly patients are already struggling with chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and heart conditions which means that they struggle with the problem of pill burden. Adding drugs for the treatment of STDs to their already treatment regimen further increases their pill burden which makes compliance a big problem (CDC, 2020) . It is also important to note that the different drugs that the elderly patients are on for their chronic conditions might interact negatively with the drugs used for the treatment of STDs which complicates the treatment of STDS.
There are several myths and biases that I came across regarding STDs and the elderly that need to be challenged in order to improve the outlook of STDs among the elderly. One myth is that STDs are likely to cause minimal harm to the elderly. This is a myth that needs to be busted as STDs affect the elderly as much as they affect the younger generation. It is even worse for the elderly since they have compromised immune systems that put them at a greater risk of severe complications. Another myth that needs to be busted is that the seniors are too old to use protection. Despite the fact that the risk of pregnancy is low, any sexually active person should get tested and also use protection.
References
CDC. (2020, September 24). HIV and older people. Retrieved from https://hivinfo.nih.gov/understanding-hiv/fact-sheets/hiv-and-older-people#:
Clark, A. (2006, August 18). Senior citizens: The new face of AIDS. Retrieved from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/senior-citizens-the-new-face-of-aids/
