Chlamydia New Zealand's "Hidden Epidemic"

New Zealander's are catching STDs at rates up to five times higher than people in Australia, Britain and Canada -- and doctors don't know why. Chlamydia is a "hidden epidemic," with cases rising at a rate five times higher than in Australia, according to a report recently released by the Institute of Environmental Science and Research. Gonorrhea and cases of syphilis were also rising sharply, the report said. The report analyzed data from 32 sexual health clinics, 35 family planning clinics, and 21 youth clinics as well as laboratories in Auckland, Waikato and the Bay of Plenty. Laboratories in those regions reported a total of 8,668 cases of chlamydia and 916 cases of gonorrhea last year. They represented a chlamydia rate of 503 per 100,000 population -- a rise of 13 percent over the previous year -- and rates of gonorrhea were at 53 per 100,000. Though genital warts remained the most commonly diagnosed infection at sexual health clinics, chlamydia rates were rising so rapidly they were "closing the gap."

Cases of syphilis rose from 13 in 2000 to 18 last year. Auckland sexual health physician Rick Franklin said the numbers were not large but it was a move in the wrong direction. Franklin said that at the Auckland Sexual Health Clinic alone this year, six cases of infectious primary syphilis had been diagnosed. STDs, particularly syphilis, helped the transmission of HIV, he said. Not enough time or money has been put into researching the reasons for the rise in STDs in New Zealand, said Franklin.

Cases of gonorrhea, most common in 20- to 24-year-old men, rose by 9 percent between 2000 and 2001, and the incidence had doubled over the past six years. Gonorrhea is becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics, and the latest first-line treatment is now being administered by injection, according to Franklin.

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