2008 Woodie Awards
Officials warn of chlamydia increase at UI
Zhi Xiong - The Daily Iowan
Issue date: 10/26/07 Section: Metro
- Page 1 of 1
More UI men seem to be feeling the burn from a sexually transmitted disease.
UI Student Health Service is seeing twice as many chlamydia cases this fall, including three times more men, said physician Ann Laros. There were 22 cases confirmed between July and October 2006 and 46 in the same time frame this year. The number of men diagnosed rose from five to 18.
The symptoms - discharge and painful urination - may appear weeks after the initial infection. And to physicians' chagrin, the symptoms usually never show.
The goal is to get the information out and alert the students about this increase, Laros said.
"It's hard to break the pattern because it's spread silently," she said.
With 2.8 million Americans infected each year, chlamydia is the most common bacterial sexually transmitted disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Women ages 15 to 24 have the highest infection rates, possibly because of frequent screening, according to 2005 data.
It is treatable with antibiotics but often manifests itself undetected - about 75 percent of infected women and 50 percent of infected men show no symptoms.
An increase in reported cases could be the result of a genuine outbreak or simply more frequent testing, said Craig Roberts, an epidemiologist at the University Health Services in Madison.
He has not seen the same trend at the University of Wisconsin, where the STD clinic also extends to the public, he said.
Laros said that more frequent testing is unlikely the reason for the increase. While women typically get tested during annual Pap smears, men get care only after they see symptoms, she said.
Though the UI outbreak seems to center on men, more serious consequences of untreated chlamydia seem to fall on women. Nationally, about 40 percent of women suffer permanent damage of the uterus and fallopian tubes as a result of pelvic inflammatory disease, provoked by chlamydia. In some cases this leads to infertility and chronic pelvic pain.
After two sessions of "Ask the Sexperts" in Mayflower and Quadrangle Halls, Laros said, she has been able to reach more freshmen through the presentations.
"Sometimes it takes time for information to permeate through the campus," Laros said.
In the next two days she might see more students get tested, she said, noting that a simple urine sample is necessary for testing.
Transmission can be prevented by using latex male condoms and telling sexual partners to get tested when symptoms appear.
E-mail DI reporter Zhi Xiong at:
zhi-xiong@uiowa.edu
UI Student Health Service is seeing twice as many chlamydia cases this fall, including three times more men, said physician Ann Laros. There were 22 cases confirmed between July and October 2006 and 46 in the same time frame this year. The number of men diagnosed rose from five to 18.
The symptoms - discharge and painful urination - may appear weeks after the initial infection. And to physicians' chagrin, the symptoms usually never show.
The goal is to get the information out and alert the students about this increase, Laros said.
"It's hard to break the pattern because it's spread silently," she said.
With 2.8 million Americans infected each year, chlamydia is the most common bacterial sexually transmitted disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Women ages 15 to 24 have the highest infection rates, possibly because of frequent screening, according to 2005 data.
It is treatable with antibiotics but often manifests itself undetected - about 75 percent of infected women and 50 percent of infected men show no symptoms.
An increase in reported cases could be the result of a genuine outbreak or simply more frequent testing, said Craig Roberts, an epidemiologist at the University Health Services in Madison.
He has not seen the same trend at the University of Wisconsin, where the STD clinic also extends to the public, he said.
Laros said that more frequent testing is unlikely the reason for the increase. While women typically get tested during annual Pap smears, men get care only after they see symptoms, she said.
Though the UI outbreak seems to center on men, more serious consequences of untreated chlamydia seem to fall on women. Nationally, about 40 percent of women suffer permanent damage of the uterus and fallopian tubes as a result of pelvic inflammatory disease, provoked by chlamydia. In some cases this leads to infertility and chronic pelvic pain.
After two sessions of "Ask the Sexperts" in Mayflower and Quadrangle Halls, Laros said, she has been able to reach more freshmen through the presentations.
"Sometimes it takes time for information to permeate through the campus," Laros said.
In the next two days she might see more students get tested, she said, noting that a simple urine sample is necessary for testing.
Transmission can be prevented by using latex male condoms and telling sexual partners to get tested when symptoms appear.
E-mail DI reporter Zhi Xiong at:
zhi-xiong@uiowa.edu
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