New Trend in STD’s for African-Americans
By Tanisha Blakely, AOL Black Voices,
Posted: 2005-12-13 13:03:46
Many cases of STDs go undiagnosed and unreported, and like AIDS/HIV cases, African-Americans are leading the pack in the reported trend.
Knowledge Is Power:
With the World AIDS Day theme, “Stop AIDS: Keep the Promise,” still ringing in our ears, African-Americans should turn their attention to another trend that’s affecting our community: non-HIV/AIDS sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).
Why is this important? According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control), many cases of STDs go undiagnosed and unreported. And like AIDS/HIV cases, African-Americans are leading the pack in the reported trend.
Although reported cases of chlamydia, a bacterial infection curable with antibiotics, have increased - CDC reports that in 2004, the rate of reported chlamydia cases among black females (1,722.3) was more than 7.5 times that of white females.
CDC Recommendations:
- Annual screening for sexually active women under age 26, as well as older women with risk factors such like new or multiple sex partners.
Regular urine testing for chlamydia on men, which will reduce the transmission to women.
From highest to lowest, San Francisco, Atlanta, Baltimore, New Orleans and St. Louis are the top five cities with the highest reported rates of primary and secondary (P&S) syphilis. For the first time, in more than a decade, P&S syphilis rates among blacks increased. According to a report on STD trends, CDC believes a commitment to syphilis education, testing and treatment will decrease new cases.
Things to Know About Syphilis:
- Like many STDs, it facilitates the spread of HIV, increasing transmission of the virus.
- It’s highly infectious, but easily curable in its P&S early stages.
The last of the key STDs threatening our sexual health, is gonorrhea – which African-Americans are heavily affected by. As the second most commonly infectious disease reported, anyone sexually active should be aware that while it’s curable, drug resistance has risen. The CDC reports that 6.8 percent of gonorrhea isolates tested in the GISP (Gonococcal Isolate Surveillance Project) in 2004 demonstrated resistance to fluoroquinolones, a leading class of antibiotics used to treat the disease (compared to 4.1 percent in 2003 and 2..2 percent in 2002). CDC has recommended that fluoroquinolones no longer be used as treatment for gonorrhea.
2005-12-11 19:42:00
