Alaska fighting uphill battle to reduce gonorrhea rate SPIKE: State ranks ninth in the nation as STD continues to spread.
An outbreak of gonorrhea across Alaska that began in 2009 is continuing this year, and health officials say they are trying new ways to curb it.
Between 2008 and 2009, the number of gonorrhea cases in Alaska rose an alarming 69 percent, according to a new U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report.
State health officials began calling attention to a spike in gonorrhea cases in Southwest Alaska more than a year ago and highlighted the statewide rise in March.
The new report shows that Alaska ranks ninth in the nation for its rate of gonorrhea, compared with its ranking in recent years in the mid-20s. Alaska also is second in the nation for its high rate of chlamydia, another sexually transmitted disease that often is transmitted along with gonorrhea.
"Hopefully, the high numbers now are more of a success story in that people are coming in and getting tested. Though I am surprised the numbers haven't declined," said Susan Jones, the state's HIV/STD program manager. "It's this continuing rise in numbers that we haven't been able to get under control."
Symptoms can be mild, which may delay people coming in for testing and treatment, allowing them to continue to spread the disease, health officials say.
Back in the 1970s, a man with a gonorrhea infection would have experienced such painful burning and heavy discharge that he would have likely gone to the doctor within a week. Now, with the current, milder strain, he might not seek help for months.
The health consequences for untreated gonorrhea can be severe: People can become infertile, a result more common for women than for men, Jones said.
Health officials will contact sexual partners of infected people and urge them to get tested and treated, without saying how they may have been exposed.
"I like to say, 'Care enough to get your partners identified and treated,'" Jones said.
Read more: http://www.adn.com/2010/11/25/1573143/alaska-fighting-uphill-battle.html#ixzz16dfheTtU
Poster Comment:
Another achievement for the state best known for it's drunks, drug addicts, and addiction to federal welfare.
