In a three-state study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, officials found some sexually transmitted diseases were not being reported as required by state law.
Up to 36 percent of gonorrhea cases and up to 22 percent of chlamydia cases were not reported.
The study was conducted in Colorado, Minnesota and Massachusetts, examining gonorrhea and chlamydia cases from 1995 to 1999. CDC officials said the completeness and timeliness of reporting can affect prompt sex-partner notification and outbreak detection.
Guoyu Tao, a CDC health scientist who helped with the study, said every state is required to report STD cases.
Seeking treatment for STDs is the first step in solving the problem, doctors say - but the second step involves health officials reporting the STDs to their state health departments.
“Even though it’s required, doctors may be busy with other things,” he said. “Based on our observation, we saw they were busy with daily work and treating patients. Sometimes results from STD tests were a few days late so doctors would forget.”
Michigan Department of Community Health officials said 26,237 cases of chlamydia and 18,182 cases of gonorrhea were reported in Michigan in 2000.
“We track different conditions in order to assess where are we seeing increases and decreases in an area,” said Geralyn Lasher, a department spokeswoman. “We try to find out what seems to be working and bringing numbers down.”
Olin Health Educator Dennis Martell said it’s still important for people to get tested for STDs, despite what disease levels are reported by the state.
“What people need to realize is that STDs are prevalent, they’re contagious and many of them have no symptoms,” Martell said. “People need to get tested if they’re sexually active.”
Martell also said knowing how many cases of STDs exist on campus helps health officials solve the problem. About 20 to 25 percent of all sexually active college students have an STD, Martell said. Eighty percent of women and 20 percent of men who have chlamydia have no symptoms, he said.
“When people don’t report them, it doesn’t give us a good idea about the scope of the problem,” he said.
Pre-med sophomore Yasmin Yusuf isn’t afraid of contracting a sexually transmitted disease on campus.
“I don’t have sex so I don’t worry about it much,” she said. “I know there’s a lot of people out there that don’t get help for it though. They should think about the people they have sex with and stop being selfish.”
