Venereal Diseases

There are more than 25 diseases that are transmitted sexually. Many have serious and costly consequences. Some of the most common and serious STDs include: Chlamydia * Used to Be Called: Non-gonoccocal urethritis. * Cause: Bacteria. * Number Affected: About 4 million new cases each year in the United States. * Infection Rate: Highest among 15- to 19-year-olds, followed by 20- to 24-year-olds. * At Risk: Everyone, but female teens are more likely to be infected because of immature cervix.

Rates of the sexually transmitted disease chlamydia are climbing in the U.S., and rates of syphilis -- once on the verge of elimination -- rose for the seventh consecutive year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday in its annual report on STDs. Gonorrhea rates did not increase, but they ceased falling a few years ago, frustrating goals set by public health leaders. Chlamydia infections in the United States now top 1.

The major health concerns for many women in their 20s and 30s are avoiding sexually transmitted diseases and unintended pregnancies. Though there have been some advances in contraception, the situation involving STDs is far more troubling. "HPV is the epidemic right now," said Dr. Margaret Polaneczky, an obstetrician-gynecologist at New York-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan. Her reference was to human papillomavirus, which causes genital warts, cervical cancer and other genital cancers.

The number of newly diagnosed cases of the three most common sexually transmitted diseases rose for the second year in a row in the U.S., driven in part by an increase in risky sexual behavior, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Tuesday. "Increases in all three of these STDs. . . underscore the need for vigilance," said Dr. John M. Douglas Jr., director of the CDC's division of STD prevention, which produced the report.

Researchers report that a virus implicated in cervical cancer causes the most common sexually transmitted disease among teen-age women. In a study of 1,400 women under age 19 in the San Francisco area, scientists found more of the teen-agers suffered from genital infections by the human papilloma virus, or HPV, than from chlamydia and gonorrhea combined. "That is an extraordinary finding, important for taking preventive and detection measures," said Dr.

Jennifer had been expecting the news from her doctor, but she couldn't help feeling embarrassed. The 26-year-old data manager had been dating John when she learned he was infected with human papilloma virus or HPV, a highly contagious virus that causes venereal warts in both men and women. Soon after meeting him, Jennifer's Pap test was positive and a biopsy confirmed that her cervix was showing precancerous changes, both indications that she too had the virus.

The public health physician and the brothel-keeper were destined to hook up. Dr. Gary Richwald, a former UCLA professor who directs Los Angeles County's sexually transmitted disease program, had spent much of the last decade studying what he calls "sex industry workers." Russ Reade, a longtime Northern California high school biology and sex-education teacher, had left the classroom in search of riches 10 years ago, buying and managing one of Nevada's most famed houses of legal prostitution.

Infant-care clinics and programs dealing with refugee health and follow-up care for venereal disease, threatened with cuts, have won a reprieve. County officials said Friday that they have found the money to run them after all. County administrative officers now say they have the $700,000 that these programs require. And they are asking the Board of Supervisors to cancel a special Sept. 17 hearing that would have led to them being cut. Budget director Ronald S.

The young woman's face blushed the color of borscht. Her chin disappeared into the high collar of her fur coat as she looked furtively around the hospital waiting room making sure no one she knew was there. Then she whispered that she had caught "it" from her husband. The woman could not bring herself to speak the name of her ailment: syphilis. "Nobody cares how she got it; it's still considered a disgrace," said Valery V. Kuznetsov, chief doctor at the Skin and Venereal Disease Clinic No. 7.

Highly drug-resistant gonorrhea has been spreading rapidly across the U.S. and accounts for 13% of all cases of the sexually transmitted disease, federal researchers said Thursday. In a survey of 26 areas around the country, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found particularly high rates of drug-resistance in Long Beach, Orange County, San Diego, San Francisco, Philadelphia and Honolulu. Drug-resistant infections accounted for at least 25% of all cases in those areas.

New syphilis cases in Los Angeles County rose sharply in 2005 after leveling off in the previous two years, according to a report released last week. The tally of 1,217 cases was an increase of more than 40% from the 2004 total of 865 and nearly three times the number reported in 2001. Two-thirds of the new cases were among gay and bisexual men, but women saw a 56% increase over the previous year, according to the report by the county's Department of Health Services.

Young women risk being infected with chlamydia more than once, researchers reported last week at a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conference in Jacksonville, Fla. Chlamydia is the most common STD among women and, in 70% of cases, causes no symptoms. The bacterial infection can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy and infertility. It can also make a woman more likely to be infected with or to pass on the AIDS virus.

Syphilis rates in blacks, women and babies declined significantly between 1999 and 2004 but continued to rise overall, driven by a dramatic jump in infections among gay and bisexual men, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday. About 64% of all the new syphilis cases in 2004 were in men who had engaged in homosexual activity, according to the CDC. That group made up 5% of the syphilis cases in 1999. Overall, the syphilis rates nationwide rose from 2.

When it comes to sex, the Web has a dark side: It helps people hook up with strangers, fueling the spread of disease. But recently, health authorities in Los Angeles, San Francisco and other cities have been trying to use the Internet for healthier purposes.

In an age when many search for sex on the Internet, Los Angeles County health officials on Wednesday unveiled a controversial tool to fight the spread of HIV and other diseases: a website that helps send anonymous e-mail warning people that they might be infected. Through the website, inSPOTLA.org, users can send a free, unsigned electronic postcard with a standard message or a personal note, thus avoiding an awkward conversation that many people would rather not have.

Your editorial stated valid general reservations about mandatory testing for AIDS. But, your position against AIDS tests for marriage licenses is absurd! For decades people applying for marriage licenses have been required to be tested for venereal diseases that, although very serious, are much less deadly than AIDS. If you expect your editorial policies regarding AIDS to have any credibility at all, then to be consistent you must also call for the abolition of ALL premarital medical tests.

Against a background of pressure from social conservatives, the Food and Drug Administration is recommending a new series of labels for condoms, warning that they "greatly reduce, but do not eliminate" the risk of some sexually transmitted diseases. Though little noticed by the general public, the issue of condom labeling has become another battleground in the nation's culture wars.

Men engaged in risky homosexual activity are fueling a sharp increase in the incidence of syphilis and a smaller but worrisome rise in gonorrhea resistant to common antibiotics, federal researchers said Tuesday. The increases are seen at a time when sexually transmitted disease rates among historically important risk groups, especially women and minorities, have been declining, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.