Sudbury health unit targets rising chlamydia infections
Youth seeing the largest rise in infection rates of sexually transmitted disease
The Sudbury and District Health Unit says the number of chlamydia cases in the city is on the rise.
According to recent numbers, reported cases of the sexually transmitted infection have gone up by 10 per cent over the past year — that's 634 reported cases in 2012. More than half of those cases are youth between the ages of 18 and 24.
But no one is talking about those numbers over hot beverages at a café on Sudbury’s Laurentian University campus.
"No one wants to talk about 'oh I know this person who has it, or this person' and ruin someone's reputation," said 20-year-old Jessica Bell.
She said she's not surprised her age group is the most likely to contract the sexually transmitted infection "because I find our group's the most sexual and the most unknowledgeable about sexually transmitted diseases — or they just don't care enough to actually protect themselves against it."
A public health nurse with the Sudbury and District Health Unit said another problem is that young people are often hesitant to get tested for STI's.
"Because they don't think they have it, it's going to happen to other people but not to them," Nancy Hanbury said.
"Because the chlamydia really doesn't have any symptoms, they don't think they have it, even if they've had multiple partners, even if they had unprotected sex, it's not going to happen to them."
The health unit's sexual health clinic in downtown Sudbury offers STI testing and treatment free of charge. And it’s launching a new online campaign today, targeting youth and the infection.
Hanbury said a traditional poster campaign doesn't offer the privacy of a website.
"Even to look at it, I think they don't really want other friends to see that they're actually looking for some information on chlamydia because they're afraid that people might look at them and say, 'oh, why do you want information on chlamydia? Do you have it? So it's very hard with what we're sending out for messages," she said.
Hanbury said chlamydia is the most common STI the clinic treats.