The St. Louis City health officials are in the community, in schools, on the radio and in programs targeted at increasing awareness and dispelling myths about sexually-transmitted diseases.
As a result – more testing and more treatment for persons with STDs.
The City of St. Louis saw an 11 percent reduction in the number of gonorrhea cases between 2006 and 2007. Chlamydia cases dropped six percent during the same time.
“The providers and the community-based organizations really embraced this as a community health problem, not a City health department problem and that’s why we are seeing these declines,” said Pamela Rice Walker, St. Louis City Health Director.
Somehow those messages were lost among the more salacious depictions of the S–T–L as the S-T-D capital for gonorrhea and Chlamydia.
“As far as we are concerned as a team, no level of STDs is acceptable because they are all preventable and curable diseases,” Walker said. “If you catch them early, they won’t spread. “Sixty percent of our cases are in the age group of 12 to 24. To have these two diseases in this age group is really putting our young people at risk.”
“Left untreated, Chlamydia and gonorrhea can cause infertility, affecting a woman’s chance to bear children later in life. Such a severe consequence is entirely avoidable if as a nation we work together to increase the use of proven prevention tools and make them widely available to those who need them,” said John M. Douglas, Jr., M.D., director of the Division of STD Prevention for Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
According to CDC data, St. Louis ranked 50th out of 52 (third from the bottom) among “Counties and Independent Cities” with 4,392 reported cases of Chlamydia in 2007. Los Angeles, ranked No. 1, had 44,030 cases, No. 2-ranked Cook County, Illinois which includes Chicago, had 30,881 cases of Chlamydia and No. 3-ranked Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania had 17,029 cases in 2007.
For gonorrhea, the CDC data ranked St. Louis 28th out of 69 “Counties and Independent Cities” with 2,307 cases in 2007. No. 1 was Chicago/Cook County, Illinois with 12,338 cases in 2007; No. 2 was Los Angeles County with 10, 063 cases and No. 3 was Wayne County, Michigan with 7,012 gonorrhea cases.
The “St. Louis is No. 1” for STDs stigma is deduced from looking at the rate of cases of Chlamydia and gonorrhea per 100,000 of population. St. Louis, with an estimated population of 355,663 in 2007 and its rate of Chlamydia was 1,265 cases per 100,000, that figure is the highest rate in the nation. And when you see the rate compared to the other cities, St. Louis does not look good.
The second highest Chlamydia rate was Philadelphia County – 1175.7 per 100,000 in a population of 1.4 million. Third was Baltimore with a rate of 1,166 per 100,000 in a population of 637,455.
For gonorrhea, St. Louis also has the highest rate of the disease in 2007 at 742.3 per 100,000 in a population of 355,663, followed by No 2 Orleans Parrish, with a rate of 684.5 per 100,000, pop. 484,674. Third highest was Montgomery County, Alabama with 641.4 per 100,000 in an estimated 223,571 population.
Will increased awareness, testing and treatment eventually result in a leveling off in the numbers and rates in St. Louis?
Health officials expect it will. However, changing behaviors and actions changes results.
Peer-to-peer community collaborative programs are used to increase STD awareness and access to care. A partnership with the American Red Cross uses skits to create something other than the old textbook sex education class.
“It’s about emotions, judgment, self-esteem, negotiation—because STDs are really a symptom of all those other things—those coping skills not being available to young people,” Walker said. “The only way to be certain you are 100-percent clear is to abstain. If that’s not where you are in your life, a monogamous relationship provides protection and reduces your risk. And you should always practice safe sex by using a condom and get an annual physical.”
Complicating matters further is young adults fall out of the heath care system.
“They fall out of the insurance system when they are 18 and they don’t see a reason to go to the doctor every year, but an annual physical is important for not only STDs but other chronic diseases that are facing this generation,” Walker said.
Nighttime radio is used to reach kids about STDs on 100.3 FM the Beat every third Wednesday, 10-11 p.m. with “Shorty the Prince of the City.”
“During that program we discuss STDs prevention and care. We try our best to give a lot of accurate information at that time. We spend a lot of time dispelling myths,” said Brandii Mayes, health equity program manager for the city health department. Mayes said take dozens of additional calls off the air.
One such myth heard regularly is that you can look at a person and tell he or she is positive for HIV or an STD.
“You only know if you have an STD if you get tested and diagnosed. You simply cannot tell by looking at someone,” Mayes said. “A lot of STDS don’t have symptoms. There are teens that are having unprotected sex, and they don’t see a rash or a bump or things they will see and they think they are fine.”
Walker said they also work with parents to send the right sexual health message to young people.
“They are really hungry for this information and how to talk about this with their kids. We have a lot of caring parents and we are including them when we can,” Walker said.
They are also working with aldermen raise awareness Ward by Ward that the only way to be sure is to be tested. And it’s free testing.
Box 1:
The SPOT (Supporting Positive Opportunities for Teens) is a one-stop, drop-in center for youth (ages 13-24) that provides no-cost STD testing, health care and counseling, social support, prevention and case management services.
4169 Laclede, St. Louis
1 p.m.-5 p.m. Monday – Friday
For more information, call 314-535-0413
Box 2: One Person, One Ward, Free STD testing- call 314-612-5188.
Box3:
The St. Louis County Health Dept. operates a full-service, walk-in, confidential STD clinic at the North Central Community Health Center at 4000 Jennings Station Road. Testing and medication are free. For more information, call 314-679-7800.
Box 4:
Blacks, who make up 12 percent of the U.S. population, had about 70 percent of the reported cases of gonorrhea, 48 percent of Chlamydia and 46 percent of syphilis cases reported in 2007.
Source: CDC Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance, 2007.
