Exponential STD growth rates in Utah, especially in women

[_mackay11]

The numbers don't lie, and gonorrhea rates jumped nearly 400 percent from 2011-2014. Men have seen a 300 percent increase, while rates among women have surged an incredible 714 percent.

Joel Hartsell of the Utah State Health Department is working with his team to figure out why. They're using new questionnaires for people who test positive for STDs, for example, but that is only a piece of the puzzle.

In a short amount of time, he says, 40 percent of males claim anonymous sex, but only 7 percent of females do. Yet the largest increase is among females, he says, those numbers could be read and skewed to fit many different theories.

Beltran believes the best start to lowering STD rates is protection. "The biggest thing we are not doing is promoting personal responsibility around our sexual well being," she says. “People are not educated and think things like, 'STDs are only in that population I don't associate with.’ That’s not true. Nobody is exempt from being exposed to an STD when you are sexually active."

http://www.kutv.com/news/features/top-s ... UoeqHCkqrV

On what base. The article quotes % but not #.

An increase of 700% could be based on previously having 1 and now having 7 cases.

[Guest]

On what base. The article quotes % but not #.

An increase of 700% could be based on previously having 1 and now having 7 cases.

Does the official from the Utah Health department sound like he's talking about 7 cases?

Lynn Beltran, an epidemiologist at the Salt Lake County STD clinic, says you don't have to look to hard to see the problem. A decade ago, she says, dating and hooking up were far different. “You had to go to a bar to meet someone, there was a dance you had to do,” she says.

Would an 'epidemiologist' be interested in discussing 7 cases, or does their specialism (STD epidemics) give us a clue as to the numbers involved?

"An epidemic (from Greek ἐπί epi "upon or above" and δῆμος demos "people") is the rapid spread of infectious disease to a large number of people in a given population within a short period of time, usually two weeks or less." (Google definition "epidemic")

If I'm reading this map right, Utah also has the lowest median age for marriage.
http://mic.com/articles/92361/the-media ... n-two-maps

Another contributing factor perhaps?

[_Fiannan]

Correct. I would also like to see a breakdown according to demographics. For instance, in the state I come from there was an increase in certain STDs but it was mainly concentrated in migrant communities.

[_I have a question]

http://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/stateprofile ... rofile.pdf

This is a 2012 Utah health report.
The STD section gives us a base from which this explosion has developed.

[_I have a question]

(KUTV) It’s a skyrocketing problem in Utah that no one wants to talk about.

Married or single, STDs are on the rise among all ages – in some cases up more than 700 percent.

“20s, 30s, 40s, and I’ve certainly had my share of patients in their 50s,” says one doctor.

2News’ Heidi Hatch investigates the cause of this public health crisis and reveals the source that has Utahns facing a higher risk of sexually transmitted diseases than ever before.

Tonight on 2News at 10.

http://www.kutv.com/news/features/top-s ... UsKuHCkqrU

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) The Utah Department of Health says gonorrhea cases have skyrocketed in the state in recent years.

The increase in the sexually transmitted disease is a nationwide trend, according to health department epidemiologist Joel Hartsell, but has been particularly prominent in Utah, especially along the Wasatch front.

Between 2011 and 2014, gonorrhea diagnoses increased by 296 percent among men and 714 percent among women.

Hartsell said the disease has historically been prominent among men, who tend to show symptoms quickly after infection. The increase female infections is concerning, he said, because women can remain asymptomatic while spreading the bacterium and developing pelvic inflammatory disease, which can lead to infertility.

Hartsell said anyone who has multiple sexual partners should be tested for the disease, which can cause burning discharge and abdominal pain.

http://www.kutv.com/health/features/che ... UsLB3CkqrU

[_Fiannan]

Seems people on the forum feel this is something that is indicating a rise due to higher sexual promiscuity within the general middle-class, LDS demographic. Yet wouldn't you assume the two groups most LDS in Utah would be white and Pacific Islanders?



http://ibis.health.utah.gov/indicator/c ... onCas.html

Might some of the change be due to influx of people from other locations and, gasp, non-LDS as well?

[_I have a question]

Seems people on the forum feel this is something that is indicating a rise due to higher sexual promiscuity within the general middle-class, LDS demographic. Yet wouldn't you assume the two groups most LDS in Utah would be white and Pacific Islanders?



http://ibis.health.utah.gov/indicator/c ... onCas.html

Might some of the change be due to influx of people from other locations and, gasp, non-LDS as well?

As I understand it, the headline figures in the OP article are in reference to events for the year 2014. The report you reference is for 2013.

From the report you cite:

How Are We Doing?
Following a doubling of Utah's gonorrhea rate from 2003 to 2006, when the rate peaked at 35.2 cases per 100,000 population, Utah's gonorrhea rate decreased annually to the lowest reported rate of 9.8 in 2011. In 2012, the rate increased to 16.8 cases per 100,000 population. The rate increased again in 2013 to 32.8 cases per 100,000 population, a 95% increase from 2012.

In 2013, gonorrhea rates in the state were higher in males (39.6 cases per 100,000 population) than in females (26.0). Rates in females increased from 9.4 cases per 100,000 population in 2012 to 26.0 cases per 100,000 population in 2013 (177% increase). The highest rates of gonorrhea in Utah in 2013 were among males aged 25 to 29 (123.7 cases per 100,000 population) and males aged 20 to 24 (105.6).

How Do We Compare With U.S.?
Gonorrhea rates in Utah are well below rates in the U.S. In 2012, Utah's gonorrhea rate ranked 45th in the nation. The overall rate for gonorrhea in the U.S. in 2012 was 107.5 cases per 100,000 population.

Nationally in 2012, gonorrhea rates were higher in females (108.7 cases per 100,000 persons) than males (105.8 cases per 100,000 population). Gonorrhea rates were highest among females aged 20 to 24 (578.5 cases per 100,000 population) and females aged 15 to 19 (521.2). The next highest group was males aged 20 to 24 (462.8 cases per 100,000 population). [CDC. Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance, 2012.]

What Is Being Done?
Persons who test positive for gonorrhea are confidentially interviewed by a disease intervention specialist from a local health department to educate the patient, ensure proper treatment, and to obtain sexual partner information for follow up. This process potentially prevents the spread of infection and reduces the likelihood of the patient becoming reinfected. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently recommends that patients with gonococcal infections be treated with a combination gonorrhea/chlamydia antibiotic therapy regardless of chlamydia test result.

The Utah Department of Health Communicable Disease Prevention Program, along with local health departments, currently provide STD presentations upon request to a variety of organizations, agencies, and facilities.

Which asks the bigger question of the states health department and why the measures they have put in place have been so ineffective to the point the year on year increases are now being described in such terms as "surging" and "jumping" ahead.

Methinks the Health Department got some 'splainin to do....