Sexually Transmitted
Diseases, Keeping you in the Know
By
Lori Saxon Jordahl, MBA-HA
April is National STD Awareness Month. STDs are important because they negatively affect pregnancy,
can lead to cancers, impair fertility and, can facilitate HIV transmission. An estimated 19 million new infections occur each
year, almost half of them among young people ages 15 to 24.
For 2010 in Florida, approximately:
• 270 cases of STD were diagnosed each day.
• 11 cases of STD were diagnosed each hour.
• 1 case of STD was s diagnosed every 5.26 minutes.
• 67% of all reported cases of STDs (66,606) are between the age of 15 to 24.
Locally in Miami-Dade, 2010 brought another year of increases in all of the reportable STDs.
Statistics only represent a fraction of the actual cases. Many have no symptoms or don’t
recognize/ignore them so they go untreated.
Current
hot button issues in Miami-Dade STD prevention efforts are:
• Sustained syphilis increases and alarming HIV co-infection
• Pregnancy and STDs
• Increased rates of infection among teens
Your Local Health
Department STD Program offers the following:
• Clinical Services
• Surveillance
• Verifies the diagnosis/treatment
of all reportable STDs
• Community
Relations
• Awareness, Presentations,
Events & Research
• Field Services
with DIS (Disease Intervention Specialists)
• Testing outside of the clinic setting
• Referrals
• Partner Services
for infected persons.
• Contacting
partners to notify them of their exposure to an STD/HIV, offer testing and treatment. It’s anonymous and confidential
E-cards are another option for informing partners
that they may have been exposed to an STD/HIV. These can also be sent anonymously at www.inSpot.org.
What
you can do:
• Routinely obtain a sexual
history from patients
• Communicate
risk-reduction messages and specific actions that are personally relevant
• Offer HIV screening to all persons 13-64 years of age
• Offer HIV screening to all persons seeking STD testing or treatment
• Promote and support Partner Services including cooperation with DIS
Lori Saxon Jordahl is with the Miami-Dade County Health Department
STD Program. For more information, visit www.dadehealth.org.
