Reports of a common sexually transmitted disease are on the rise in Carroll County, particularly among teenagers and young adults, a report released Tuesday shows.
Chlamydia has increased 50 percent during the past five years, with 77 percent of the infections reported by people age 15 to 24, according to data released by the Partnership for a Healthier Carroll County, a nonprofit agency.
Nurses and clinicians who work at the Carroll County Health Department STD clinic said the increase could have resulted from a combination of more people visiting the clinic and more teens having unprotected sex with multiple partners.
“Teens are much more sexually active, and it?s not unusual to see people having multiple partners within a year,” said Dianna Davis, the clinic?s nursing director.
Cindy Marucci-Bosley, women?s health manager for the Carroll County Family Planning Clinic in the Carroll County Health Department in Westminster, said she sees 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds who say they have had 10, 15 and 20 partners.
“Teens are not very afraid,” she said. “They are playing Russian roulette.”
Within the last six months, the number of people visiting the STD clinic every week has jumped from about 15 to 20, Davis said.
“A year or two ago, we?d see two or three cases of chlamydia a month, but now it?s like one a week,” Marucci-Bosley said.
“It?s a big problem, because many men may not have symptoms and very rarely do women. But the scar tissue it can cause in women can lead to infertility.”
The report also said the county experienced a 65 percent increase in reports of gonorrhea the past five years with 24 percent of cases involving 15- to 19-year-olds.
But statistics from the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene show the rates of gonorrhea in Carroll fluctuate from year to year, with 26 in 1996, 25 in 2004 and 18 in 2005.
“In my opinion, until society changes, the kids aren?t going to change what they are doing,” Davis said.
The Partnership for a Healthier Carroll County, a nonprofit devoted to improving residents? health, distributed it at the county health department?s 10th Annual Risky Business Prevention Conference on Tuesday.
Chlamydia cases reported in Carroll
» 2005: 114
» 2000: 75
» 1996: 52
Source: Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
