STD Awareness month especially in Alaska

WASILLA — Alaska STD awareness month is in April. Preliminary reports for 2017 show the highest reported cases of chlamydia since reporting started in 1996, and the highest number of gonorrhea cases since the pipeline days. The Centers for Disease Control 2016 rankings put Alaska first in the nation for chlamydia and second for gonorrhea. Alaska has ranked first or second for chlamydia since established reporting began in 2000. According to Clinton Bennett of the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, though only a small numbers of syphilis are reported, there is currently an outbreak of syphilis in the state.

The most common Alaskans at risk for both chlamydia and gonorrhea is between the ages of 15-25. Some providers refer to these diseases as Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI’s) but the CDC uses STD’s as the term used for reports.

So what is the cause for the high rate of STI’s in Alaska?

“That’s the 64 million dollar question Alaska has a young population ( average age is early 30s), much of the population has access to free services, providers are very good at detecting and reporting disease, public health has had STDs as a priority service with active disease control measures, there are health disparities and barriers to care in some locations, and we may just have more disease,” says Susan Jones, HIV/STD Program Manager for the State of Alaska, Section of Epidemiology.

The CDC reported a 19% increase nationwide in syphilis cases in 2015. 20 cases of syphilis were reported for 2016. Of those 20, 15 of them live in Southcentral Alaska. Only 5 of the cases were reported in females, all of which were under 31 years of age. Three were co-infected with gonorrhea or chlamydia, and three were also infected with HIV.

Some of the associated risk factors were having multiple or random anonymous partners. Nine were users of mobile applications for finding partners. Seven were having sex while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and seven were incarcerated or near at the time of diagnosis.

“Alaska has not seen such a high number of syphilis cases in a 5-year period since the early 1980s,” according to a bulletin written in 2016 by the State of Alaska Department of Epidemiology. “Promptly report to SOE all confirmed and suspected syphilis cases via fax (907-561-4239) or telephone (907- 269-8000).”

Associated risk factors included having multiple or anonymous sexual partners (12, 60%), using online and mobile applications to find sex partners (9, 45%), having sex while intoxicated or high (7, 35%), and being incarcerated at or near the time of diagnosis (7, 35%).

“Reported cases of gonorrhea climbed from 1,115 in 2015 to 1,454 in 2016, a 31% increase.. Case counts are continuing to increase in 2017. During the first 6 months of 2017, there were 1,035 cases reported. More than half of those cases (56%) occurred in Anchorage, and 58% were in individuals aged 29 or younger,” according to the Alaska Public Health Advisory in Oct 2017.

Factors attributing to the increase include a decrease in access to healthcare and a decline in public health resources that support disease control efforts.

The Alaska DHSS Division of Public Health Mat-Su Public Health Center located on 3223 E Palmer-Wasilla Highway can be reached at 907-352-6600. Among their services offered are a tests for chlamydia, gonorrhea, hepatitis A,B, and C, and syphilis. More information can be found at https://gettested.cdc.gov/.