International Backpackers Looking for Sex Increase Risk of STDs

Australian authorities have issued a warning that international backpackers looking for sex increase the risk of sexually transmitted diseases.

After an eight-year study of about 5,700 backpackers who attended the Sydney Sexual Health Centre, the health officials claim that the sex mad tourists generally indulge in binge drink and often disregard using protection.

It has apparently created an STDs crisis in the country, with the spread of diseases such as chlamydia, genital warts and herpes among the rest of the population.

Most backpackers belonged to the U.K. or Ireland and were aged in their mid-20s.

The study noted that female backpackers were twice as likely to binge drink as Australians, while their male counterparts were three times more likely to do the same.

Also, nearly half of men and 30 percent of women who visited Sydney confessed to having more than two sexual partners in the previous three months.

And both backpackers and Australian residents had low rates of condom use, reports News.com.au.

The survey further found that backpackers plan to seek treatment for STDs at Australia's public sexual health clinics because they are free.

The study will soon be published in the international journal Sexually Transmitted Infections. (ANI)

Source-ANI
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