Sexually transmitted diseases rise in Alaska

ANCHORAGE, Alaska  - Alaska a nation the highest rate of infection Chlamydia and gonorrhea rate ranked second as sexually transmitted diseases spread in rural areas, according to the Division of public health of Alaska.

A 6,026 total causes of bacterial disease Chlamydia were reported in Alaska in 2010, an increase of 13% in the previous year. The rate of 849 per 100,000 inhabitants of Alaska is more than twice the national rate of 417, said the Department.

Reported cases of gonorrhea were $ 1,273 in 2010, an increase of 23% and the counter to a national trend of reduced gonococcal infection, said the State. Rate of Alaska was 179 per 100,000 population, compared to a national rate of 99.

Rates partly reflect the demographics of Alaska, according to the program Coordinator Susan Jones, HIV and sexually transmitted diseases in the State.

"The burden of chlamydia and gonorrhea is in the young population," said Jones. "Alaska on average has a population of young compared to most States."

Diseases are also common among ethnic minorities. Rural areas of the State with the worst rates of infection were in large part of the indigenous peoples of Alaska, she said.

No treatment in a timely manner in these rural areas adds to the problem, said Jones.

The Medical Council of Alaska has recently adopted a change of rule allowing physicians to prescribe medicine for sexual partners of infected patients, even if these partners are not examined, she said.

Chlamydia infections increase nationwide, but not as dramatically as in Alaska, said Jones.

Sometimes, the symptoms are mild or not perceptible. "Probably 85 percent of people who have chlamydia will know never it," said Jones.

Even without symptoms, Chlamydia can have serious consequences, including pelvic inflammatory disease leading to infertility in women, Jones, said.

"It is not a benign infection," she said.

Alaska said cases of sexually transmitted diseases increases

ANCHORAGE, Alaska  - Alaska a nation the highest rate of infection chlamydia and gonorrhea rate ranked second as sexually transmitted diseases spread in rural areas, according to the Division of public health of Alaska.

A case 6,026 total bacterial disease chlamydia infection have been reported in Alaska in 2010, an increase of 13% in the previous year. The rate of 849 per 100,000 inhabitants of Alaska is more than twice the national rate of 417, said the Department.

Reported cases of gonorrhea were $ 1,273 in 2010, an increase of 23% and the counter to a national trend of reduced gonococcal infection, said the State. Rate of Alaska was 179 per 100,000 population, compared to a national rate of 99.

Rates partly reflect the demographics of Alaska, according to the program Coordinator Susan Jones, HIV and sexually transmitted diseases in the State.

"The burden of chlamydia and gonorrhea is in the young population," said Jones. "Alaska on average has a population of young compared to most States."

Diseases are also common among ethnic minorities. Rural areas of the State with the worst rates of infection were in large part of the indigenous peoples of Alaska, she said.

No treatment in a timely manner in these rural areas adds to the problem, said Jones.

The Medical Council of Alaska has recently adopted a change of rule allowing physicians to prescribe medicine for sexual partners of infected patients, even if these partners are not examined, she said.

Chlamydia infections increase nationwide, but not as dramatically as in Alaska, Jones said, because the symptoms are less alarming or noticeable to those infected.

"Probably 85 percent of people who have chlamydia will know never it," said Jones.

Even without symptoms, chlamydia can have serious consequences, including pelvic inflammatory disease leading to infertility in women, Jones, said.

"It is not a benign infection," she said.

Sexually gonorrhea becomes a "superbug"? (LiveScience.com)

Sexually transmitted diseases gonorrhea develops more and more resistance to all antibiotics, which we must deal with the United States, researchers warn.

In 2009, almost a quarter of the strains tested in a national gonorrhea surveillance project were resistant to penicillin, tetracycline, fluoroquinolones or a combination of these antibiotics which are typically used to treat the STD. And in early 2010 data is of another type of antibiotic resistance, cephalosporin. Is that those of cephalosporins are the only class of left to antibiotics that doctors recommend to treat the disease.

"This may be the harbinger of things to come", Dr. Kimberly Workowski, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Division of STD prevention, said the early 2010 data. Workowski "resistance may get worse," said MyHealthNewsDaily.

If the resistance to cephalosporins develops, gonorrhea may develop in a Superbug and have a catastrophic effect on our ability to control the disease in the country, researchers say. A Superbug is a strain of bacteria that became resistant to antibiotics and is very difficult to kill. Other examples of Superbugs: Staphylococcus aureus resistant to Methicillin (MRSA) and some strains of tuberculosis.

Experts are working on strategies to prevent resistance to antibiotics, including the treatment of this disease with several antibiotics at a time. They also advocate safe sex and testing STD and ways to reduce the acquisition of gonorrhea.

Emerging antibiotic resistance

Gonorrhea is caused by the bacterium Neisseria gonorrhea and spreads through sexual activity. Individuals with gonorrhea show often no symptoms, but the disease can lead to serious complications, including infertility and chronic pelvic pain in women, and men epididymitis, a painful condition of testicular attached channels which can cause infertility treated, according to the CDC. If bacteria transmitted for blood or joints, the condition can be fatal, said the CDC.

More than 301,174 cases of gonorrhea were reported to the CDC in 2009, but the Agency estimated that more than 700,000 people become infected with the disease each year in the United States. It is most often infectious diseases which is must be reported to the Government of the United States.

Since the 1970s, the bacteria have become resistant to traditional antibiotics, including penicillin and tetracycline. In 1991, resistance to fluoroquinolones began to emerge. Researchers do recommend treatment with antibiotics now because once a bacterium has developed a resistance to a drug, that the resistance can develop quickly once more.

Researchers see the emergence of gonorrhea that is resistant to cephalosporin in Southeast Asia. In General, resistant strains of this part of the world migrate on the United States and then spread from West to East, Workowski said.

"The concern is that history tends to repeat itself," said Workowski. "It's the same principle has happened before."

How to prevent resistance

To prevent the emergence of cephalosporin resistance, the CDC is now recommending that the disease be treated with an injectable form of cephalosporin and a different kind of antibiotic such as azithromycin or doxycycline.

The CDC, in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health, is working to identify other drugs that could be used for profitable gonorrhea, including drugs that target the bacteria at different stages of the life cycle, said Workowski.

The organization also works to develop a plan for intervention in the event, said Workowski.