Men’s Health Magazine ranked Madison fifth out of the 101 largest cities nationwide for having low incidents of sexually transmitted diseases.

The study examined reports from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention for current rates of gonorrhea, syphilis, Chlamydia and HIV mortality rates.

There were 324 cases of gonorrhea and 887 cases of Chlamydia reported in Madison in 2003, said Amanda Kita-Yarbro, the communicable disease epidemiologist for the Madison Department of Public Health.

Ten newly diagnosed cases of HIV and eight cases of syphilis were also reported.

“It is a fair assessment in terms of what we see,” said Dr. Scott Spear, director of clinical services at University Health Services. “But it’s not to say that we do not have problems here.”

Students have several local offices to access health care around the city.

“Madison is a relatively prosperous city with access to quality health care,” Spear said. “Students are at a lower risk because of services like UHS where tests are free and treatments are cheap. They also tend to use condoms well.”

Spear said UHS performs several hundred STD tests per month, including about 200 tests each for Chlymydia and Gonorrhea. Very few of the tests come back with positive results, he said.

“In colleges, Chlamydia is decreasing significantly. We can test for it as part of a regular exam, so we can eliminate the disease in people who are not showing symptoms,” Spear said.

One factor contributing to the low rates of STDs is education, said Sally Zirbel-Donisch, program support nurse for the Madison Metropolitan School District. Sexual health education in Madison public schools begins in elementary school with growth and development classes and continues through high school, where students are informed about contraception.

The district has recently received a grant to bring their curriculum up to date and make it consistent throughout the individual schools.

Rebecca Eckhart, a senior at the University of Wisconsin, said early education about sexual issues is influential in lowering the rates of STDs.

“Youth education and adolescent education is important,” Eckhart said. “You cannot just hope they will come up with the best solution on their own.”

Spear agreed that education is one of the best ways to teach people about sexual health, as is communicating openly about sexual issues.

One of the best ways to deal with sexual issues is to press the topic itself. Sexual education and communication at the college level helps to explain the sex safety. If not, the subject may become taboo, Spear said.

Many students who go to UHS are not experiencing an orgasm because they have not been taught that it is healthy to talk to their partners about sexuality, Spear said.

“It is also important to avoid being drunk when you have sex,” he said. “Students know that condoms are important, but when they are drinking, it becomes a lack of putting it all together and communicating what you want in a sexual encounter.”