Support the Timberjay by making a donation.

Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Chlamydia infections are on the rise

Clinics give advice on how to keep STD testing private and affordable

Aloysia Power
Posted 9/29/14

REGIONAL — Out of all the responsibilities adolescents and young adults worry about – from planning their future and finding jobs, to which school their child should attend – sexual …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Chlamydia infections are on the rise

Clinics give advice on how to keep STD testing private and affordable

Posted

*This article has been edited since it's publishing date. Changes were made to correct an error in information. The article originally stated that the Project Care Clinics in Ely and around the Iron Range provide STD testing, when they in fact do not. 

REGIONAL — Out of all the responsibilities adolescents and young adults worry about – from planning their future and finding jobs, to which school their child should attend – sexual health isn’t typically near the top of the list.
Yet, this is the age group that needs to be the most concerned with their sexual health.
According to a report the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) released this spring, adolescents and young adults have the highest rates of chlamydia infections in Minnesota, and statewide, the sexually transmitted disease is spreading.
“Of all of the diseases you read about, hear about – West Nile, Lyme disease – this is the number one infectious disease in the state of Minnesota, northern Minnesota, or any part of Minnesota,” said Roy Nelson, MDH’s Information and Media Specialist.
Chlamydia is a treatable STD that causes symptoms such as painful intercourse, frequent urination and abdominal pain in women and irritable urination and tender testicles in men. If it goes untreated, it can sterilize women.
Most of the time the infection goes untreated because it’s asymptomatic.
“The problem with chlamydia is three-out-of-four women will not have symptoms of any kind. And one-out-of-two males won’t have symptoms,” said Nelson. “So, they’re not going to come in to be tested. And that’s why we have such large numbers: because it remains asymptomatic until the disease process is very advanced and you have some very serious issues requiring sometimes surgery, pelvic inflammatory disease, and very costly, serious side effects from all that underlying infection.”
The infection is detected by clinics from vaginal swab samples for females or from urine samples for both males and females.
The MDH reported a record 18,724 new infections in 2013 – which is double the number detected in 2000 – and over half of these infections occurred in 15 to 24-year-olds.
Although the vast majority of these cases were reported in the Twin Cities area, 6,000 of them were found in greater Minnesota, and 729 were documented in St. Louis County.
The Scenic Rivers Health Services in Cook and Tower conducted 50 tests for chlamydia within the last two years, yielding three cases, according to Clinical Services Director, Nancy Mault.
The Essentia Ely and Babbitt Clinics showed an expected number of infections between July 2013 and 2014 with nine newly- detected chlamydia cases, but Nelson said this may be because not enough sexually active people came in for testing – and those who did make the effort, may not have gotten tested enough.
“When you’re talking over 18,000 chlamydia cases reported last year, you know there’s a lot more out there,” said Nelson.
Between July 2013 and 2014, the Essentia Health Ely and Babbitt Clinics conducted 217 tests for chlamydia, according to information provided by the clinics’ Regional Administrator Laurie Hall. Over 90 percent of these tests were of females, meaning only 20 males came in for testing.
Along with the possible latency of chlamydia, there are many other reasons sexually active people choose to not get tested – especially for those in the age-window of highest risk of infection.
“There is kind of this concern with young adults that, ‘If I’m on mom or dad’s insurance, they’re going to get the bill,’” said Hall.
“The state of Minnesota has a law in place that allows anybody age 12 and above to get confidential treatment for reproductive health, which includes STD testing, chemical dependency and behavioral health services,” she said.
Hall said adolescents and young adults who are worried about their parents finding out about their STD testing can pay for it privately and have the test results mailed to their own address or a trusted friend’s address.
Those who are unable to afford the testing also have alternatives, Hall said.
“We never turn anyone away for any kind of care, particularly not young adults when there’s something as simple as testing that can make the difference of whether or not they get treatment that can impact not only their quality of life, but their future, their reproductive health and the chance that they’re going to transmit this on to other people. It becomes not only a patient issue, but a community issue.”
“We’ll work out payment plans even if it’s just a few bucks a month. We’ll figure something out,” said Hall.
The Vermilion Community College (VCC) also has free counselors students can approach with concerns over sexual health.
“I don’t feel like Vermilion has a reputation of being a casual hook-up culture, but we are aware that this is an issue today for students in terms of protecting themselves and keeping themselves safe,” said VCC counselor Cindy Anderson Bina. “So, that’s why we do feel like we need to take responsibility to make sure that we’re educating our young adults to take precautionary measures.”
Bina recommended that sexually active students should go and be tested every six months, even if they aren’t having symptoms.
“It can happen the first time you have unprotected sex,” said Bina.
To learn more about chlamydia and testing centers in Minnesota, call the MN Planning + STD Hotline at 1-800-78FACTS or visit the Minnesota Chlamydia Partnership at mnchlamydiapartnership.org.

chlamydia, aloysia power, college, STDs, clinics, infections