Confidential Hepatitis Testing

sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) affect millions of people worldwide. However, because of the social stigma associated with STDs, many people are unaware of the nature of these diseases or the scope of their risk.

The more common STDs include chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, genital herpes, hepatitis B, and AIDS. Chlamydia is the most common STD and is easily treated with antibiotics, but women who contract the disease do not know they have it because they often experience no symptoms until the disease has caused substantial damage to their reproductive systems.  However STDs like chlamydia are preventable. For this reason, we recommend programs that educate the public on effective ways to prevent STDs as well as screening and reporting programs to help control the spread of these debilitating diseases.

More than twenty-five diseases are spread primarily through sexual activity. Not including the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that leads to AIDS, the most common of these sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, genital herpes, human papillomavirus (HPV), hepatitis B, trichomoniasis, and bacterial vaginosis. While some STDs, such as syphilis, have declined over the years, others, such as genital herpes, gonorrhea, and chlamydia, continue to spread. As of 2001, one in five people in the United States had contracted an STD, and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 15 million people will contract an STD each year-approximately one-fourth of these new cases will occur among teenagers. STDs can result in severe and sometimes deadly consequences and contribute billions of dollars to the nation's healthcare costs each year. These trends, and the continuing epidemic of HIV, represent a serious threat to the public health.