Over-65s ‘don’t know how to have safe sex’

UNITED STATES

A PERFECT STORM of longer lifespans, Viagra and carefree care-home living is fuelling a surge in sexually transmitted diseases in retirement communities across the United States.

Chlamydia infections increased by 31 per cent and syphilis rose by 52 per cent among Americans over the age of 65 between 2007 and 2011, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. The numbers are similar to those for Americans in their early 20s.

STD tests are now as popular as colonoscopies among Americans over the age of 65, who qualify for government healthcare under the Medicare scheme.

According to Ezekiel Emanuel, an oncologist and vice-provost at the University of Pennsylvania, America’s senior citizens do not know how to have safe sex, and live like wild college students. ‘‘Combine retirement communities, longer life, unfamiliarity with condoms and Viagra – and what do you get? You get an STD epidemic among the social security generation that rivals what we imagine is happening in those ‘Animal House’ fraternities,’’ he wrote in the New York Times.

Several factors are credited with diverting baby-boomers away from bingo and shuffleboard and towards what has been called ‘‘the second sexual revolution’’.

‘‘Retirement communities are becoming like college campuses. They cram a lot of similarly aged people together, and when they do, things naturally happen,’’ Emanuel said.