Is the glass half-full or half-empty? When you're a public health department, you take wins where you can get them. Case in point, if your STD rate is high, you may as well point to the fact that you're more aggressive than your peers in implementing testing programs.
More on the "half-full" lens from Wellness.com:
"Blue Earth County continues to have one of the state's highest rates of a common sexually
transmitted disease. But, in a strange twist, that might be good news. A state health official said it's likely that more aggressive testing in Mankato catches more cases of chlamydia than elsewhere, leading to the higher rate.
The state saw a new high in an epidemic of STDs in 2008. The Minnesota Department of Health said there were 17,650 new cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis last year, a 3.5 percent increase.
Blue Earth County had the fourth-highest rate in the state, behind Hennepin, Ramsey and Beltrami counties. Blue Earth County had 212 new cases of chlamydia, the most common STD, a rate of 379 cases per 100,000 people.
Peter Carr, head of the health department's STD division, said the county could have slightly higherrates because of a larger college -- age population. Most cases of STDs are in those younger than 25.
"But it's very likely that health- care workers there are doing a much better job of screening. Chlamydia, in women in particular, doesn't produce symptoms, so there has to be good routine screening," Carr said.
"By doing what they are supposed to do, it makes theproblem look worse than it is."
If left untreated, chlamydia can lead to infertility in some women and cause complications in giving birth and possible infections in newborns.
The state saw a new high in an epidemic of STDs in 2008. The Minnesota Department of Health said there were 17,650 new cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis last year, a 3.5 percent increase.
Blue Earth County had the fourth-highest rate in the state, behind Hennepin, Ramsey and Beltrami counties. Blue Earth County had 212 new cases of chlamydia, the most common STD, a rate of 379 cases per 100,000 people.
Peter Carr, head of the health department's STD division, said the county could have slightly higherrates because of a larger college -- age population. Most cases of STDs are in those younger than 25.
"But it's very likely that health- care workers there are doing a much better job of screening. Chlamydia, in women in particular, doesn't produce symptoms, so there has to be good routine screening," Carr said.
"By doing what they are supposed to do, it makes theproblem look worse than it is."
If left untreated, chlamydia can lead to infertility in some women and cause complications in giving birth and possible infections in newborns.
Note to reporter - check year over year trends next time around, or at least moving forward <sigh>.
This is a site to recommend laboratories or to warn those who use them to take some care?
Posted by: Without Prescription | May 19, 2009 at 06:08 PM