Maine: STD Clinic Holds Presentation on Statistics in Bangor Region

On Tuesday, members of the Bangor City Council's government operations committee were briefed on STDs in the region for the one-year period ending last November. Department Director Shawn Yardley and public health nurse Patty Hamilton said the city's STD clinic continues to serve as a regional center for the diagnosis and treatment of HIV, gonorrhea, chlamydia and hepatitis B.

The clinic saw 432 clients last year, not including those who came in for HIV testing. Of the 432, 275 were from Bangor and 11 other communities that comprise the Bangor Health Maine region, one of 28 such regions the state recently established to help expand Maine's public health network. Other communities in BHM include Brewer, Clifton, Eddington, Glenburn, Hampden, Hermon, Holden, Newburgh, Orrington, Orono, and Veazie.

Hamilton and Yardley also presented nine-year snapshots of HIV, gonorrhea, and chlamydia occurrence in BHM. The area's number of HIV cases appears to be holding steady at about four a year. Gonorrhea cases ranged from a low of six in both 1998 and 1999 to a peak of 15 in 2003 and 2004. In 2006, the most recent year for which data are available, there were 12 cases.

Chlamydia appears to be on the rise in BHM. In 1998, there were fewer than 175 cases. By 2005, cases had risen to around 300. There was a slight drop in 2006.

The clinic began recording acute hepatitis B in 2001, when one case was diagnosed. By 2006, eight cases were detected. Hamilton and Yardley said that year was an anomaly due to a cluster of cases.

Yardley and Hamilton said that the region's low prevalence of STDs can be attributed in part to the clinic's focus on education, diagnosis, treatment, and management.

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