In the past eight years, rates of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in San Luis Obispo County have nearly doubled, and studies show that Cal Poly plays a huge role in the increase.

“Cal Poly is the epicenter,” San Luis Obispo County Health Department (SLOCHD) epidemiologist Ann McDowell said. “We’ve done rate maps of the county [where chlamydia outbreaks happen], and Cal Poly glows red.”

The concern is not just in the county, but nationwide. According to a study by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), from 2013 to 2017, national case rates of syphilis nearly doubled while gonorrhea cases went up 67 percent.

While the causes of national rate increases are more complicated, San Luis Obispo experts can look to the presence of students for many of the answers.

“The No. 1 risk factor for getting an STD is being under the age of 24 … so Cal Poly students are a large portion of that population,” McDowell said. “They’re more likely to be sexually active but have less of a feel for their partner’s overall health than perhaps older people might.”

There have been steady increases in the rates of gonorrhea and chlamydia and oftentimes flaws in education systems are to blame, according to McDowell.

“Studies have shown us that where they teach abstinence in sex ed[ucation], teen pregnancy goes up and STD rates go up,” McDowell said. “To pretend that it doesn’t happen is quite possibly one of the most ill-informed policies we could possibly have.”

Particularly in the case of chlamydia, the county has seen a steady incline since 2012, according to data from SLO Health Counts, a database run by SLOCHD.