STDs Rise Among Utah Women

According to CDC data released Tuesday, Utah's syphilis rate remained fairly steady in 2004, with 13 cases reported, while gonorrhea cases in the state rose from 231 in 2000 to 603 in 2004. Utah's chlamydia cases climbed from 2,188 cases in 2000 to 3,857 in 2004.

Seventy-five percent of Utah's gonorrhea and chlamydia cases are ages 15-29, and 75 percent are females.

The Utah Department of Health (UDH) is working to educate the public about STDs and their prevention. While the agency wants to work more with high schools, it has so far been permitted to speak about the diseases only to high-school students in the Granite and Weber school districts.

An increase in testing by at-risk populations "could help explain the higher numbers," said Jennifer Brown, UDH's Bureau of Communicable Disease Control director.

Dr. Ronald Valdiserri, acting director of CDC's National Center for HIV, STD and TB Prevention, said, "Syphilis increases, especially among men who have sex with men, demonstrate the need to continually adapt our strategies to eliminate syphilis in the United States."

Dr. John Douglas, CDC's director of STD prevention programs, called on health care workers to "step up screening for chlamydia, particularly among young, sexually active women, who are at greatest risk of infertility and other complications if the disease is not diagnosed and treated."

Back to other news for November 10, 2005