Hedonistic Holidays Endanger Sexual Health -Survey
Tue Feb 3, 7:17 PM ET Add Health - Reuters to My Yahoo!
LONDON (Reuters) - Sexual antics of young British men and women on the Spanish holiday island of Ibiza could be endangering their health, doctors warned on Wednesday.
Around half the 1,500 people who arrived on Ibiza without a regular sexual partner said when questioned in a poll that they had sex with at least one person during their stay.
One in four young men and one in seven women had more than one sexual partner. Eleven percent of males and three percent of females said they had indulged in sex with six or more people during a typical 10-day stay -- and not all of them practiced safe sex.
"Although for most individuals the attraction of Ibiza was not specifically to have sex, the majority did have sex while on holiday," said Professor Mark Bellis, of Liverpool John Moores University in northern England, in a report in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections.
Out of the 16 to 35-year-olds questioned in the three-year study, 38 percent of those who had sex failed to use a condom all the time, risking exposure to sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV (news - web sites)/AIDS (news - web sites).
"With over 250,000 young people from the United Kingdom each year visiting just Ibiza, this represents a substantial conduit for transmission of STIs between countries," said Bellis.
The researchers said action to protect the sexual health of millions of people traveling abroad is needed along with investment and cooperation from local health services, policy makers and the travel and nightlife industries.
"Without such measures to protect the health of young people abroad, already elevated rates of STIs and unwanted pregnancies in the United Kingdom may continue to climb, fueled by the mixture of media hype, substance use and opportunity associated with dance music tourists," Bellis added.
