• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Black Teens Face Higher STD Rate, Studies Find

Posted on: Monday, 18 July 2005, 15:01 CDT

Black teens and young adults are more likely to be infected with chlamydia than whites and Hispanics, according to new studies.

Federal data released at a conference on sexually transmitted diseases in Amsterdam last week shows that among 15- to 19-year- olds, 11.1% of pregnant blacks tested positive for the disease, compared with 3.9% of whites and 3.8% of Hispanics.

The data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also found that nearly 5% of all women aged 14 to 19 had chlamydia and that the prevalence was higher among blacks.

"STDs often have no symptoms and therefore frequently go unrecognized and undiagnosed," said John Douglas, director of the agency's STD prevention programs.

High rates of sexually transmitted disease are not new to Milwaukee.

The city had the ninth-highest rate of chlamydia and 13th for gonorrhea in the nation in 2003, according to the CDC.

In 2002, Milwaukee had the sixth-highest chlamydia rate in the nation.

Geof Swain, associate medical director at the Milwaukee Health Department, said the number of chlamydia cases in Milwaukee has remained steady since 1999, though 2004 saw a slight increase.

According to the city, there were 9,167 cases of chlamydia in 2004, up from 8,343 cases the previous year. For gonorrhea, there were 3,178 confirmed cases in 2004, compared with 3,759 cases in 2003. That number is down from 2002, when 4,499 cases were reported.

Breakdowns by age or race weren't available for the city, though Swain believes that statistics by gender underestimate the number of true cases.

Copyright 2005, Journal Sentinel Inc. All rights reserved. (Note: This notice does not apply to those news items already copyrighted and received through wire services or other media.)

Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

More News in this Category