Nurse practitioner says venereal disease on the rise at USU

The number of reported cases of some STDs, also known as STIs or venereal diseases, has risen slightly on Utah State's campus as well as throughout the state and nation.

There has been an increase in the number of genital herpes and HPV cases diagnosed at the health center, as well as a small outbreak of gonorrhea that occurred during the Fall semester, said Mary Orians, family nurse practitioner with student health services.

According to the Utah Department of Health website, the Bear River Health District, which includes Logan, reported the number of gonorrhea cases increased from three in 2008 to six in 2009. 2009's number is not as high as 2006's 10-year record of 26 cases. Also, the number of reported HIV cases increased from one in 2008 to two in 2009. The number of reported AIDS cases increased from zero to one in the same year. The number of chlamydia cases has, however, decreased from 190 cases in 2008 to 176 cases in 2009.

Bear River's figures do not necessarily represent Utah as a whole. The total number of gonorrhea cases in Utah decreased from 477 in 2008 to 341 in 2009. The total number of HIV cases has increased from 106 to 112 and the number of AIDS cases has increased from 66 to 77 reported cases. Cases of Chlamydia, one of the most common STDs among college-age people, have increased from 6,019 in 2008 to 6,152 in 2009.

Utah had one of the lowest case rates of chlamydia and gonorrhea in the United States in 2009. Utah's case rate of chlamydia was 225 cases per 100,000 residents; compared to the low, 159.7, in New Hampshire and a high of 802.7 in Mississippi. Utah's case rate in gonorrhea was 12.5 cases per 100,000 residents. Compared to the low, 7.2, in Idaho and the high, 246.4, in Mississippi.

2010 figures are not yet available.

Any increase in the numbers of cases may just be a matter of perception, said Alfredo Novoa, sophomore in psychology and leader of Vox, or Voices for Planned Parenthood, an on-campus advocacy group. He said an increase in the number of cases reported could just mean more people are getting tested.

US gonorrhea rate at record low, other STDs rise

A new government report on sexually spread diseases shows gonorrhea in the United States has dipped to the lowest rate ever recorded.
But chlamydia (KLAH'–mid–ee–ah) and syphilis infections continued to increase last year. That's according to a report released Monday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The agency says there are roughly 19 million new cases of sexually transmitted diseases annually.

Gonorrhea: How Your Diet Plays a Role

Gonorrhea is a sexually transmitted disease (STD) caused by Neisseria Gonorrhea, a bacterium that can grow and multiply easily in warm and moist areas of the reproductive tract in women and men. The bacterium can also grow in the mouth, throat, eyes, and anus. Gonorrhea is spread through contact with the penis, vagina, mouth, or anus, and it can also spread from mother to baby during delivery.

Gonorrhea Drifting Toward Cephalosporin Resistance

Neisseria gonorrhoeae strains are showing a worrisome drift in susceptibility to cephalosporins, causing experts to warn that the bacterium is only a step away from acquiring high-level resistance that would render ineffective the current first-line antimicrobials.

That development could have disastrous consequences since cephalosporins are the last remaining class of antimicrobial agents that are highly effective against N. gonorrhoeae...

Screening in the ED Identifies Men With Chlamydia and Gonorrhea

A new study suggests that screening men for Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae in an emergency department setting may be an effective way to test men who might otherwise go untreated, and may help prevent the infection of others, according to research presented here at the American Society for Clinical Pathology 2010 Annual Meeting.

Syphilis tops gonorrhea as No.1 sexual disease

Syphilis has surpassed gonorrhea and become the number one sexually transmitted disease in Beijing.

Reported cases grew by 21 percent last year to 4,144 cases. The city will soon provide free checkup and treatment of syphilis at community clinics.

Syphilis cases have grown 17.51 percent every year from 2004 to 2009, according to the official report released Thursday by the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau, mostly among 20- to 39-year-olds, followed by 50-plus years of age.

U.S. Apologizes for Abusive Guatemala Human Medical Experiments

Earlier this year Wellesley College professor Susan Reverby came upon the unpublished study outlining the 1940s experiment led by controversial U.S. Public Health Service physician John C. Cutler. Cutler and his fellow researchers enrolled people in Guatemala, including mental patients, for the study, which aimed to find out if penicillin, a relatively new drug at the time, could be used to prevent sexually transmitted diseases. Evidently, the study participants never gave informed consent. Rather, many of the subjects were deceived about what was being done to them.