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

Sexual Diseases Hit Record High in Minnesota: Infection Rates in Suburbs, Among Young People Fuel Rise

Posted on: Friday, 7 April 2006, 06:00 CDT

By Jeremy Olson, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

Apr. 7--A record number of sexually transmitted diseases was reported in Minnesota last year, largely because of increases in the suburbs and among teens and young adults.

The Minnesota Health Department recorded 12,187 cases of chlamydia last year, double the number reported in 1996. Gonorrhea and syphilis cases increased as well.

"This is the highest number of cases we have ever seen in a single year," said Kip Beardsley, who directs the Health Department's STD and HIV Section. "It represents an alarming trend that says loudly that too many infected people are going untested and untreated."

While the bacterial infections are treatable with antibiotics, public health officials said preventing them is important. Chlamydia is hard to detect and can cause infertility. Gonorrhea can spread to other organs and joints. Syphilis can cause blindness and damage the brain or heart.

The resurgence of sexually transmitted diseases, which were declining in the 1990s, adds fuel to the debate on sex education and whether it should focus on abstinence until marriage or include other messages about birth control and safe sex.

While the syphilis outbreak mostly involves middle-aged gay and bisexual men, the majority of people infected with chlamydia and gonorrhea are between the ages of 15 and 24. AIDS and HIV cases will be reported separately this spring.

The rate of teen infections has been stable in Minneapolis and St. Paul, but has increased dramatically in the suburbs. There were 1,463 cases of chlamydia among 15- to 19-year-olds in Minneapolis and St. Paul last year, a 1 percent increase from 2001. In the suburbs, there were 937 cases, a 48 percent increase from 2001.

Organizations such as the Minnesota Family Council have stressed that abstinence is the only absolute method of STD prevention and have encouraged schools to offer abstinence-only sex education classes.

However, the American Civil Liberties Union wants more education on prevention through contraceptives. The decade-long increase in STDs has coincided with the rise of the abstinence-only education movement, said Chuck Samuelson, ACLU of Minnesota executive director.

"The ACLU believes that contraception is the right of everybody," he said. "Information needs to be accurately portrayed."

Beardsley encouraged condom use as a method of prevention, but the health department also promotes abstinence education through its Education Now and Babies Later (ENABL) program.

The health department funds STD clinics, but announced last month it is cutting an STD hotline due to reductions in federal funding.

The rising STD rate among teens comes despite state surveys suggesting teens are less sexually active during their high school years. Twelfth-grade boys indicating they had sex dropped from 62 percent in 1992 to 46 percent in 2004.

Sexually transmitted diseases are most common in the 20 to 24 age group. Research has suggested the abstinence message gets teens through high school, but leaves them inadequately prepared for sexual activity after that, said Renee Sieving, an assistant professor in the University of Minnesota's School of Nursing.

Regardless of the reason for the increase, people at risk for STDs need to get tested and tell their sexual partners if they are infected, said Luisa Pessoa-Brandão of the health department's HIV/STD surveillance section. "That's how we're going to stop the infection from spreading."

Jeremy Olson can be reached at jolson@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5583.

-----

Copyright (c) 2006, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

Source: Saint Paul Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minn.)

More News in this Category