Utah: Soaring STD Rate Shocks Many Teens

There has been a jump in cases of chlamydia among Utah teens, and state officials are trying to determine what is behind it -- more unprotected sex or better detection. There were 888 cases of chlamydia among Utahns ages 15 to 19 last year, up from 752 in 2000, according to the Utah Department of Health's Bureau of Communicable Diseases. Among all age groups, cases of chlamydia climbed from 2,209 in 1998 to 2,798 last year. "They are skyrocketing," said Teresa Garrett, bureau director. Nationally, chlamydia rates among people ages 15 to 24 also are up, according to data compiled by Child Trends, a Washington-based nonpartisan research center.

Seventy-five percent of women and 50 percent of men with chlamydia show no symptoms -- for women, vaginal discharge, painful urination and lower abdominal pain and for men, a discharge. Pregnant women can pass it on to their babies. Chlamydia is easily treated with antibiotics and can be prevented by using condoms; untreated, however, it can cause infertility.

Garrett said greater awareness of the disease or earlier detection may be behind the rise in cases. But other factors may be at work, too. Health officials say some teens are unaware that chlamydia and other diseases can be transmitted during oral sex. "At the YWCA a lot of teens we see have [STDs]," said Jennifer Mackenzie, a program consultant at the Salt Lake City YWCA. "A piece of that has to do with denial. As these young women engage in intercourse and are getting involved, they were not thinking about protecting themselves and they are not using birth control," Mackenzie said.

Among some teens, an STD is "accepted as a consequence of having sex," Garrett said. Local health departments often see high-risk kids who are sexually active, she said -- kids having to trade sex for a meal or a warm place to sleep at night. These teens have a different view of the risk compared with teens in more secure family situations.

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