Happy Chlamydia, Again

Okay, sexually transmitted diseases are NOT my subject of choice, but after receiving the latest Mississippi State Health Department stats for May, I am stunned.

Several weeks ago I reported on chlamydia in Mississippi in my online Clarion Ledger op-ed column (see link above). Here are the latest reportable disease stats. Read it and scratch your head.

MS Chlamydia May 09 cases 1,756
Year to Date 9,976
YTD 08 7,437

That's almost 57 diagnosed cases per day during the month of May. That's unbelievable. Unbelievable for a preventable disease. Yet, believable as a product of tight lips that don't discuss such and ignorance.

Dr. Bo Martin, the Oxford ObGyn I interviewed, told me the majority of chlamydia cases are younger age pregnancies. Why? Because all pregnant, sexually active women are screened due to potential harm to the fetus (vision problems or blindness). Screening is not mandatory in private health care due to all the insurance loopholes. Sometimes the test is covered under well patient care but often not.

Treatment is a simple round of antibiotics. Almost too simple. Unless the sexual partner of an infected patient is also treated, the disease reoccurs. According to Dr.Martin, many of his patients return, reinfected, ready for another round of antibiotics as if it's a common sinus infection.

But it isn't. It's a sexually transmitted disease. And like Dr. Martin says, "The same way you get chlamydia, you also get the bad stuff."

As difficult as STD conversations are , we need to have some serious talk in Mississippi. As smart and talented as our constituents are, in many ways, we will remain in the public eye at the bottom looking up.