The Los Angeles
County Department of Public Health aims to reach
African-American and Latina women as well as gay and
bisexual men with its new STD education campaign.
Funded by the County Board of Supervisors, the
campaign seeks to reverse Los Angeles
County's sharp increase in syphilis, gonorrhea, and
chlamydia cases. The campaign urges sexually
active young minority women and gay men to get tested
for STDs every six months.
"The rates of
syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia are all alarmingly
high and rising in our community," said county public health
director Jonathan E. Fielding in a press release.
"Last year alone, nearly 18,000 cases of chlamydia and
gonorrhea were recorded among African-American and
Latina women younger than 25 years of age in L.A.
County. Gay and bisexual men represented at least 1,000
cases of syphilis in 2006."
"Gonorrhea and
chlamydia are often asymptomatic, so that infected
individuals do not know they are infected and do not seek
medical care," said Peter R. Kerndt, director of the
STD program for the Department of Public Health,
in the press release. "However, these diseases can
have serious consequences, including complications
during pregnancy, chronic pelvic pain, and infertility."
In 2005, gay and
bisexual men accounted for 85% of reported syphilis
cases, the press release states, while six out of 10 such
cases were also HIV-positive.
The Department of
Public Health oversees environmental health, disease
control, and community and family health. (The
Advocate)