Chlamydia and Teens � How Baltimore Is Cutting the Odds

Chlamydia and Teens

According to the statistics kept by the Center for Disease Control, teens face a one in ten chance of contracting the disease, the most common treatable STD. Like most STDs, it is spread through sexual contact � particularly unprotected sexual contact. In 2004, there were over 900,000 reported cases of the infection � and the CDC estimates that that is just the tip of the iceberg. Because Chlamydia usually has no symptoms, and because many younger people don�t see their doctor for health issues until it�s unavoidable, the CDC estimates that the real incidence of the disease is around 3 million new cases per year.

While the national numbers are bad enough, the age breakdown is even more telling. The reported cases among girls between the ages of 15 and 19 are nearly ten times the national reported rate. While the rate for teenage boys is considerably lower, the CDC estimates that that may be in part because boys are far less likely to be screened for the disease than girls. The numbers make it clear that it is a serious health risk for teens, one that deserves the same serious outreach and treatment efforts as drugs and smoking.

The Infertility Prevention Program of the Center for Disease Control is taking it that seriously. Region III of the IPP has mounted a project called �I Want the Kit� that provides education, outreach and resources to teens in the Region III district of the Department of Health and Human Services. The program could serve as a model for similar programs throughout the country, greatly increasing the numbers of teenagers and young adults who are tested and treated for Chlamydia.

The IPP works to promote high quality, innovative and cost effective STD prevention services to teens and young adult women. Because Chlamydia is a leading cause of infertility among young women, preventing that STD has become a major focus of the project. The program focuses on several main points that are important in bringing the under control among that age group:

Education and Outreach

One reason that this disease is so widespread among younger women is that they simply don�t know about it. By collaborating with schools, detention centers, the courts and other agencies that work with at-risk young women, the IPP�s premiere program � �I Want the Kit� � specifically targets adolescent and young adult women with information about what Chlamydia is and what it can do to you. The program advertises free medical screening for STDs at numerous area clinics, and makes free self-testing kits available for free to at-risk youth.

Increased Medical Screening

At the same time, �I Want the Kit� provides education and training to health care professionals about STDs, and the prevalence of Chlamydia. It encourages wider screening tests both in the office and through the distribution of self-testing kits that can be dropped in the mail.

Provision of Free, Accessible, Confidential Screening

One of the major problems in reaching teenagers is cost. Few teenage girls have the money to spend on doctor visits or lab tests, and most will do anything to avoid bringing their parents into the picture. Girls who live in Baltimore, Maryland, have another option. They can walk into any participating pharmacy and ask for �the kit�, a home testing kit for Chlamydia, free of charge.

The program even makes it easy for girls who are embarrassed or shy � they don�t need to sign their names, they don�t need to even talk to the pharmacist. All they have to do is print out a coupon from the I Want the Kit web site and hand it over the counter. The instructions with the kit are simple and easy to follow. Once a girl has obtained a sample, she drops it in the mailbox, then calls an 800 number in two weeks to get the confidential results of her test. If the test is positive, the girl can go to any one of the free clinics and hospitals for free treatment and follow-up care.

By making it easy for teens and young adults to get the information and the care that they need, Baltimore�s I Want the Kit program is taking a major bite out of the most common STD in the country.