By SUMMER BRADFORD
summer@du2.byu.edu
Utah ranks among the states with the lowest number of new cases of sexually transmitted diseases, according to a report from the Center for Disease Control.
Andrea Gates of the statistics and data management at the Center for Disease Control said Utah ranks 48th in the nation for new cases of chlamydia, 46th in the nation for gonorrhea and 43rd in the nation for syphilis.
15.3 million new cases of STDs occurred in the U.S. in 1996, said Allison Kalloo, director of public relations for the American Social Health Association.
The number of newly reported cases has risen since 1988, but Kalloo said this increase is primarily due to better reporting and estimation methods.
Kalloo said there are two kinds of STDs. Bacterial STDs such as gonorrhea, syphilis, chlamydia and trichomoniasis are treatable and curable with antibiotics.
Viral STDs such as Hepatitis B, Herpes and HIV can be treated symptomatically as the common flu or cold is treated, but scientists are still working on a permanent cure, Kalloo said.
'At this point a viral STD is a lifelong condition,' Kalloo said. She said symptoms are produced on occasion and often triggered by an outside stimulus such as stress.
Kalloo said the number of new cases in teenagers and young adults ages 15 to 24 continues to rise and be of concern to the CDC. She said teenagers' attitude of being immortal and their often promiscuous behavior are causes of the rise in new cases of STDs.
Director of the Utah County Health Department, Dr. Joseph Miner, said there were 10 new cases of gonorrhea, 85 new cases of chlamydia and no new cases of syphilis reported in Utah County in 1997.
Miner said Utah County has the lowest percentage rate of STD cases in the state of Utah. He said the Salt Lake County STD clinic sees the most patients, Weber County is second in the state and Utah and Davis County tied for third.
Miner said only chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, hepatitis B and hepatitis C are reportable in the state of Utah. Doctors are required to report these types of STD cases to the county health department.
When the health department receives a report of a new case of STD, it interviews the person with the disease to find out how the person contracted the diseases and if he or she infected anyone else.
The Utah County Health Department has a public health clinic to test for and treat STDs. Miner said all patient information at the public health clinic is strictly confidential.
Young teenagers can be seen without parental notification. Miner said the confidentiality at the clinic is to encourage the reporting of STDs and to curb the transmission of communicable diseases.
Miner said, 'Religious background of the community helps control STDs. However, a lot of people, even though they are LDS, get STDs because they aren't monogamous or their partners are not monogamous.'
He said abstinence and mutual monogamy are the best and most sure preventative measures against STDs.