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PUBLIC HEALTH ALERT TO NYC, WESTCHESTER WOMEN: DOCTORS MAY BE FAILING TO DETECT SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES
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Program Reach Urges Wide Scale Throat and Rectal Exams
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"Condoms Are Fallible; You Need to Get Checked!"
New York--May 5...Tens of thousands of New York women may unwittingly be suffering from two leading sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) -- Gonorrhea and Chlamydia -- because they are failing t0 report anal and oral sexual activity in gynecological exams -- or failing to be tested for STDs at all -- leading New York sex education group Program Reach, Inc. today said, citing alarming new Johns Hopkins University data.
Gonorrhea and Chlamydia can be nearly impossible to detect without an exam in some cases, and left untreated, they can cause serious health ailments ranging from ectopic pregnancies to pelvic inflammatory disease to infertility, among other things. In a just-released Johns Hopkins study of more than 4,000 women, 30.3 percent of gonorrhea infections and 13.8 percent of chlamydia infections would have gone undetected had rectal and pharyngeal screening not been performed. The Hopkins study was published in the May issue of Sexually Transmitted Diseases.
"Untreated Gonorrhea and Chlamydia is a public health crisis that must be urgently addressed in New York," said Program Reach Chief Executive Officer Dr. Nanci Coppola. "What is particularly worrisome is the number of young people who are forgoing gynecological exams -- including rectal and throat exams -- because they think condoms are protecting them. But condoms are fallible, and these girls need to get checked."
Dr. Coppola emphasized studies showing that a majority of middle school and high school teenagers who have had intercourse have also had oral sex. Those studies are available here and here. The Hopkins research also showed that the best predictor of Gonorrhea and Chlamydia found among women tested was youth. "Age [of] less than 18 years was significantly associated with isolated [gonorrhea] of the throat and [chlamydia] of the rectum," the report said.
According to 2013 government data -- the latest available -- New York City women are already found to be infected with Chlamydia and Gonorrhea at much higher rates than the national average, with 696.9 cases of Chlamydia and 161.9 cases of Gonorrhea reported per 100,000 New Yorkers vs. 446.6 cases Chlamydia and 106.1 cases of Gonorrhea per 100,000 women in the overall U.S. population. Chlamydia and Gonorrhea rates for Westchester women tested, while still too high, is lower than the national average with 331.1 Chlamydia cases per 100,000 and 45.1 Gonorrhea cases. Data links are available here, here, and here.
"Chlamydia and Gonorrhea and insidious diseases that can rob one of the ability to have children and do irreparable harm to ones' health," Dr. Nanci Coppola continued. "There is a common misconception that these diseases are only spread vaginally and that they can't be transmitted when a condom is properly used. In both cases that is dangerously incorrect.
Program Reach urged sexually active girls and women to be tested immediately for STD's, and to insist on a rectal and throat screening during those exams.
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