The campus of Penn State is certainly different compared with what it was like 50 years ago. There are more buildings, more students and, unfortunately, more sexually transmitted infections.

When the matter of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) is brought up, most students immediately think of HPV, HIV or chlamydia -- which makes perfect sense, because these three STIs are the ones that get the most media coverage.

However, there is an age-old STI that is increasing in incidence and can cause serious -- even deadly -- health effects, yet is at times all-but-forgotten in our high-tech, 21st century world.

Gonorrhea is an STI caused by the bacteria Neisseria gonorrhoeae. It can be contracted and spread by anal, oral or vaginal sex.

A recent report in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that the prevalence of gonorrhea in the United States was 0.43 percent among a cross-section analysis of approximately 14,000 men and women ages 18 to 26. However, there were substantial differences observed by race and ethnicity, with the prevalence of gonorrhea among African-American men and women at 2 percent, which was 36 times greater than white men and 14 times greater than white women.

Other studies have indicated that gonorrhea is also on the rise among gay men.

So how can you tell if you have gonorrhea? Like chlamydia, symptoms of gonorrhea (especially in women) can be mild; in a small percentage of people, there can be no symptoms at all.

However, most people will usually show the following signs and symptoms within two to five days of being infected:

-- White, yellow or greenish discharge from either the penis, anus or vagina

-- Mild to severe burning sensation during urination

-- Testicular pain in men and lower abdominal pain in women

-- Bleeding during vaginal or anal intercourse.

Gonorrhea infections of the throat via oral sex can be very mild, and many times there are no symptoms.

In untreated, long-term gonorrhea infections, the bacteria can spread up the reproductive tract (causing pelvic inflammatory disease in women and epididymitis in men) or into the bloodstream and infect the joints, heart and brain.

In addition, a just-released study out of the University of Michigan reported that middle-aged African-American men with a history of gonorrhea were more likely to develop prostate cancer when compared with those who never had gonorrhea.

While gonorrhea is certainly a serious infection, it is curable, unlike some other STIs such as HIV or herpes.

While there has been a rise in recent years of treatment-resistant bacteria, gonorrhea can generally be cured with currently used antibiotics.

So what can you do to lessen or eliminate your chances of getting this nasty STI? The best way to prevent gonorrhea (or any other STI) is abstinence.

However, if you're going to have sex, then knowing your sexual partner's history and practicing "safer sex" -- that is, sex with a condom -- can greatly decrease your chances of getting gonorrhea or any other STI.

In addition, if you're sexually active (especially if you have more than one partner), it's a wise idea to get regular exams for STIs from clinicians at University Health Services (UHS). During the exam, your clinician can go over your health and sexual history and recommend whatever tests might be useful.

Even in today's high-tech world of the Internet and camera phones, a one-on-one conversation and exam by a UHS clinician can help detect and cure STIs like gonorrhea that have been causing disease and suffering long before Penn State was even a small agricultural college.