University life is not always a time for studying, as many former students will be aware of. However the phrase “work hard, play harder” may be taken to extreme lengths by many of today’s University students, to the extent that they are putting their health at risk. Research suggests that almost of quarter of university students (23%) will contract a sexually transmitted infection (STI) even before completing their first year, and over half (54%) are unable to remember who could have given them the infection, according to the survey conducted by shagatuni.com. From the respondents, nearly a third (32%) were only made aware of their STI after a sexual partner who had been diagnosed had then contacted them. An additional 27% found out after using a testing kit, such as the popular Clamelle chlamydia test kit. In fact, it is chlamydia which is the STI most likely to be contracted, with 59% of those who had caught an STI having chlamydia – curable through antibiotic chlamydia treatment. Interestingly, three quarters of all chlamydia diagnoses in the UK are people aged between 15 and 24. After chlamydia, herpes (18%) and genital warts (14%) were the next common STIs to have been caught. Herpes treatment includes antiviral drugs and creams such as Valtrex and Zovirax, whilst genitals warts treatment options include Aldara cream. All can be obtained today from Medical Specialists Pharmacy. The results from poll of 2,177 young graduates alarming reckless attitude and a huge lack of regard for the practice of safe sex; 89% confessing that had not bothered to use a condom for most of their sexual encounters whilst at university. Only those who had stayed single throughout university were quizzed, with other findings showing that 73% were under the influence of alcohol for the majority of the times they had sex. Perhaps the most worrying stat was that 67% of the graduates claimed they would rather risk contracting an STI than wear a condom. It is an absurd finding especially when you do not need to walk into a shop, chemist, etc. anymore to buy condoms and online pharmacies such as Medical Specialists offer 72 individually wrapped Durex Performa condoms for just £60. The survey also showed which university courses have the most ‘sexually free’ students within them. Those studying drama and dance seem to be the most promiscuous, averaging a respective 28 and 25 partners each while at university. The full top ten was: 1. Drama/Theatre Studies - 28 2. Dance - 25 3. Media Studies/PR - 22 4. Biology students - 19 5. Philosophy and ethics - 17 6. English - 15 7. Sports science - 13 8. History of Art s - 13 9. Law - 11 10. Geography - 10 The creator of the website which conducted the poll, Tom Thurlow, said he didn’t want to put students off sex, but hopes that young people will take safe sex a lot more seriously and start to use condoms. He said: “I decided to carry out this study as the site always notices a huge increase in new members to the website during fresher’s weeks, as this is obviously when many of the members will be meeting up with individuals they have met on the site for casual sex. I do not believe that being promiscuous and having casual sex are bad traits, however I am passionate about promoting safe sex, as well as the use of condoms amongst the student population of the UK.”