College-age
population at high risk for chlamydia
By
Sherry Anne Rubiano
Daily Trojan
LOS
ANGELES (U-Wire) -- Chlamydia is the most
common bacterial sexually transmitted disease
in the United States, according to the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention. But
many people do not know they have it.
At
least 75 percent of women and 50 percent
of men who are infected have no symptoms,
according to the CDC.
"If
they don't know they have an infection,
they might pass it on," says Chi-Wai
Au, Communications Coordinator of the STD
program at the Los Angeles County Department
of Health Services. "It's important
to get checked periodically for routine
testing."
About
3,000 chlamydia tests have been taken each
year for the past six years at the health
center, Neinstein says.
About
3 percent of those tested received positive
results for the disease, he says.
Au
says young people should be aware of chlamydia,
which is a disease that infects the reproductive
organs, such as the cervix in women and
the urethra in men. People can contract
the disease through unprotected sexual intercourse
and through contact with semen, vaginal
fluid or discharge.
College-aged
people have the highest infection rate of
any population in Los Angeles County. Twenty-
to 24-year-olds have the highest rates,
followed by teenagers aged 15 to 19, according
to a 2001 report from the Los Angeles County
Health Department.
The
CDC estimates that about three million people
are infected each year with chlamydia, but
many people do not get screened for it.
The disease is the least publicized among
youth, according to the department.
"Many
students are very concerned and get tested
for HIV, and that's fine," says Dr.
Lawrence Neinstein, Executive Director of
the University Park Health Center. "But
their risk of HIV infection ... is much
lower than their risk of chlamydia."
Some
people do not get tested for chlamydia because
they just don't know what it is, he says.
"When
was the last time you saw a television show
talking about chlamydia?" Neinstein
says. "You never see it on 'Friends.'"
Some
students say they know more about other
STDs compared to chlamydia.
"I
haven't heard of it," says Annie Rani,
a graduate student in the University of
Southern California's professional writing
program. "I've heard a lot about AIDS
and STDs. In high school, we were told about
AIDS and I made a point to read more about
it, and I always heard about it in the news."
Chlamydia
is caused by a bacterium called chlamydia
trachomatis. If symptoms do occur, they
usually appear in one to three weeks, Neinstein
says. Symptoms include pain during urination
or intercourse, increased discharge from
the vagina and watery discharge from the
penis.
And,
if left untreated, the disease can have
more serious consequences. Chlamydia can
cause sterility for men, and in women, it
can cause pelvic inflammatory disease and
an ectopic pregnancy.
In
an ectopic pregnancy, the fetus develops
outside the uterus, usually in the fallopian
tubes, which can be life threatening to
the mother, Au says.
Having
chlamydia makes a person three to five times
more likely to get HIV. Sores caused by
some STDs such as chlamydia can give HIV
easy access into the bloodstream.
Students
can often get tested for STDs at their school's
student health center, and many times, the
test is confidential.
All
they need to do is take a urine test, which
usually shows results in two weeks, Neinstein
says.
Although
they do not need a doctor's examination
to get tested, Neinstein recommends that
students get one. Women can get tested for
chlamydia during a pelvic exam. For men,
a doctor can swab their urethras.
Sexually
active persons under 25 should be tested
for chlamydia every six months to a year,
according to the L.A. County Department
of Health Services.
Gabriel
Barreras, a USC sophomore majoring in theater,
says many students hesitate to test for
STDs.
"At
college, where people are very experimental
with intimate relationships with people,
that door is more open (for infection) than
it was in the past," Barreras says.
"People live in a fantasy world where
(they say), 'it won't happen to me.'"
Although
chlamydia might not be easy to detect, it
is easy to cure. An oral antibiotic can
cure the infection.
Taking
the antibiotic, however, does not prevent
future infections, Neinstein says. People
can get infected with chlamydia multiple
times.
Latex
condoms provide excellent protection against
chlamydia, as well as the female condom
and plastic or polyurethane condoms.
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