16 | M | Report

Bad sex
The number of Barcelona residents suffering from
sexually transmitted diseases continues to rise.
By Stefana Serafina. Photos by Suzannah Larke.

T
he waiting room of Barcelona’s Unit for Sexually Transmit-
ted Infections (UITS) is full of people and yet completely si-
lent. The patients waiting are mostly men with a few women
amongst them, a small group that represents an impressive range of
ages and races. In the city’s STD clinic there is no confusion about
what the wait is for. But unlike other patients readily sharing the de-
tails of their sufferings with one another, the STD patients kill time
looking at AIDS prevention brochures and condom posters.
Once behind closed doors, one-on-one with the medical staff,
they don’t feel any discomfort going into detail about their symp-
toms and the stories that produced them. “It is one of the things I
love about my job,” said María Jesús Barberá, director of the unit.
“Absolute strangers talk about sex with me openly and without
holding back.”
These urgent conversations about sex keep the four doctors and
four nurses of the clinic busy full time, more so with every passing
year. The rise in the number of sexually transmitted diseases is a
tendency not only in Spain, but also in the rest of Europe, said Bar-
berá. Since 2000, every year has seen an increase in the number of

...many people continue to

subscribe to the erroneous idea
that oral sex is safe sex...

patients. In 2007, the Barcelona clinic had 24,000 visits compared to

some 15,000 in 2004. Such statistics come as a bit of a shock given
the expansive outreach of STD educational campaigns and the un-
precedented level of sex literacy. How is it possible that people
continue to suffer an ever-growing number of sexually transmit-
ted infections?
Partly it is because advances in HIV antiviral medication
mean AIDS patients have been living more healthily and with
a much lower risk of mortality in recent years. As a result,
people have become less fearful about the deadly disease.
Condoms are being ignored more often than they should
be, warned Barberá. In addition, many people continue
to subscribe to the erroneous idea that oral sex is safe
sex, while in reality many STDs (like gonorrhea,
syphilis and genital herpes) are easily transmitted
through oral sex practices, especially to men. Us-

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An ounce
of prevention
The use of a condom has two
immediate benefits: it pro-
tects against disease and pre-
vents unwanted pregnancy.
As the number of abortions
performed on teenagers rises
year after year, Catalan au-
thorities want to increase con-
dom usage among sexually
active teenagers, and recently
announced that 150 new
condom dispensers would
be installed in places where
young people can access
them, such as public libraries
and metro stations. They will
offer condoms at prices rang-
ing between 30 and 50 cents
apiece. Currently, according
an article in La Vanguardia,
there are 520 such machines
in Catalunya.

ing a condom while practising oral sex is the only way to be com-
pletely safe.
Finally, a big factor in the rise of sexually transmitted infections is
the growing number of people who change partners with regularity,
or have more than one at a time. No matter how insistently the doc-
tors might advise sticking with old-fashioned monogamous behav-
iour, the reality of modern metropolitan life is quite different. Being
one of Europe’s most desirable tourist destinations, Barcelona also
ranks high among the Old Continent’s party and romance capitals.
Endless nights spark new connections and, further fueled by a lot of
‘Sex on the Beach’ cocktails, they quickly grow into one-night affairs
whose heroes and heroines often end up in the UITS waiting room.
Gay men frequent Barcelona’s clinic most often. Men make up
between 60 and 70 percent of the unit’s patients, and homosexuals
are largely responsible for the high number. Gay men often have a
greater number of partners and are exposed to more aggressive in-
fections because of their sex practices. This year, along with the more
common STDs, the Barcelona unit has registered an outbreak of a
newer disease amongst gay patients, which has only recently become
known in Europe. LGV (or linfogranuloma venereo) is an infection
involving the rectum and can have severe complications if not treat-
ed in a timely manner.
The other STDs on the list are the usual suspects. At the top of
the chart for the most common ones in Barcelona are genital warts,
followed by syphilis, gonorrhea, genital herpes, chlamydia and HIV.
And having any of these infections makes a person more susceptible
to others. Many times a patient diagnosed with syphilis, for example,
will have also contracted the HIV virus.
“Another thing people don’t seem to fully grasp is that a lot of
the commonly known sexually transmitted infections are silent and
invisible,” added Barberá. “They can live in one’s body without
symptoms. This makes them easier to pass to a partner as the virus
and bacteria carriers are unaware of their existence. The bacteria
causing syphilis and gonorrhea, for example, can thrive in the throat
and the mouth without making one feel sick or uncomfortable. and it
becomes easy for the infections to be transmitted through oral sex.
“The asymptomatic nature of some infections makes them not
only easier to pass on, but dangerous for the complications that may
occur later, particularly in women. They may suffer a higher risk of
cervical cancer, pelvic inflammation and sterility, among other con-
sequences.”
She also noted that doctors often miss important clues when it
comes to diagnosing STDs. Doctors without a speciality in the field
may not listen carefully enough to patients, or examine them com-

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 18 | M | Report

pletely, said Barberá. Syphilis, for example, has been called ‘the
grand simulator’ for its sneaky ability to disguise itself as a skin
infection. “This is why my plea to colleagues who are not STD spe-
cialists is always to listen and examine carefully before they rule an
STD out. It can hide under many layers.”
At the end of the day, the message is a clear one: when with a
new partner, never forget to bring along a condom, even when only
oral sex is on the agenda. And, for maximum safety, stick with a
monogamous relationship. But since life has a way of proving this

“Another thing people don’t

seem to fully grasp is that a lot
of the commonly known sexually
transmitted infections are silent
and invisible.”

simple recipe hard to follow, keep in mind that those whose sexual
experiences lead them to the UITS waiting room are in good hands.
The clinic is free for patients with a tarjeta sanitaria (a valid health
card), and provides both planned and walk-in emergency medical
attention. What’s even better is that most members of the clinic’s
staff speak fluent English, so angloparlantes won’t have to struggle
with explaining the ‘inconvenient truth’ in a second language.

You can call the Unit for Sexually Transmitted Infections for an
appointment (93 441 4612) or, for emergencies, drop by the centre
(Avenida Drassanes 19-21). The clinic’s hours of operation are 8am-
8pm, with walk-ins encouraged to try and come in between 11am-
1pm and 4pm-6pm.

Free HIV testing

A group of 20 Catalan phar-
macies will participate in a
2009 pilot project to offer
rapid, free HIV testing, which
provides results in 15 min-
utes. The testing, done on a
finger prick’s worth of blood,
is mostly aimed at immi-
grant and marginal popula-
tions whose members may
be reluctant to go to public
health clinics.
Initially, none of the
pharmacies are in the city,
although a spokesperson for
the Col.legi de Farmacèutics
(www.farmaceuticonline.
com) told Metropolitan that if
the pilot project works well,
within six months it could be
expanded to include Barce-
lona. The costs of the initial
programme will be born by
the pharmaceutical compa-
nies that manufacture the
tests.
“Pharmacists want to do
something to encourage pre-
vention and early detection,”
said the spokeswoman. “We
believe this is a way to do
that. Until now, the test was
much slower and people had
to go to through the Seguri-
dad Social.”
The tests will be con-
ducted in a space in the
pharmacies set apart for that
purpose, and results will be
given to the patients on the
spot, she said. The pharma-
cist will not keep any records
of the tests or the results. If
a result is positive, the in-
dividual will be told by the
pharmacist to visit a hospital
and get tested again, and
see a doctor.

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