Sexual Disease Risk Higher for Swingers than Prostitutes: Dutch Study

Jun 24, 2010, 11:12 PM

(CBS) The risk of catching a sexually transmitted disease (STD) may be high among prostitutes - but a new study from the British Medical Journal says the risk is even higher among couples who like to trade partners and engage in group sex.

Dutch researchers analyzed almost 9,000 patients at three sexual health clinics and found that 10.4 percent of older couples who considered themselves "swingers" were infected with chlymadia or gonorrhea, Reuters reported.

In comparison, just under 5 percent of female prostitutes were infected with chlamydia or gonorrhea.

Female swingers had higher rates than their male counterparts, and swingers over 45 were more likely to have an STD than those under 45.

Older swingers are "very hard to reach," one of the study's authors, Anne-Marie Niekamp, told Reuters. "Because they are so hidden and in some ways also stigmatized, it is hard for them to come forward for STI testing and treatment."

The findings are not necessarily transferable to America, where prostitution is not regulated and most prostitutes do not receive health care. June 24, 2010

cbsnews.com

comments (3)

Jump to latest

troop15 years ago

the problem with studies is that they can be tweaked to produce the results that the studiers want to portray to push whatever agenda that may be behind that study. in other words i'm sure it would be easy to conduct a study that shows that stds are higher among prostitutes than among swingers.

Dudester15 years ago

In the US, it's estimated that as many as 60 percent of couples cheat on each other. In Europe, though, it's known that at least 80 percent of couples cheat on each other.

There's a telling scene from one of my favorite flicks "Memory of a Killer" ( a true story), which was based in Belgium. Early on, husband tells wife that he might have to stay overnight in an adjacent city. Wife tells husband, "Do me a favor. Buy her a better perfume." When the husband is killed, the Police Commissioner is trying to get in the widow's pants. Later, when a mafia liason is killed, his widow immediately starts hitting on the detective.

Dougster15 years ago

Not too surprising. Another interesting fact is that you exclude IV drug users, HIV rates among female prostitutes are no higher than in the general population, at least in Western nations.

My guess would be that HSV and HPV which condoms don't protect very well against would be higher among prostitutes than the general population (for similar age profiles), but the rest would be no different.

It's also a standard fact that women are more prone to STDs than men, and the older you are the more likely it is you picked up one of the viral STDs at some point.