Chlamydia – A Common Sexually Transmitted Infection Among Young People

STIs are common in sexually active young people

Question:

Discuss about the Law for Sexually Transmitted Disease.

Sexually transmitted infections are very common in the young people, and especially those who are sexually active. Such infections endanger the long term health of youth such as it is not possible to cure some STI and some STI damage the reproductive system if it is not treated. Because of these issues it is desirable to provide information related to sexual health problems, and availing the treatments on time is the best solution to reduce and prevent these infections (Dehne & Reidner, 2001).

This essay states the one sexually transmitted disease which is common in the young people who are sexually active. In this paper, we discuss Chlamydia among young people and lastly paper is concluded with brief conclusion.

Sexually transmitted infections are not new, but STI rates in Australia and in other developed nations had been rising in recent years.  As per the health data issued by Kirby institute, almost 18,588 cases of STI were detected in the year 2015 and almost 8388 cases in 2006. STI cases were almost doubled in last few years. This is the data of one infection only, and this story is almost similar in other infections also (Advocates for Youth, n.d.) .

Various STI are detected in young generation, and the infection of Chlamydia in sexually active youth was 4.8% in Addis Adaba, and it is considered as the most common infection in the sexually active students (Taffa & Sundby, 2002).

It must be noted that, Chlamydia is considered as treatable disease and notifications related to this disease is continue to increase each year. Risk related to this infection is highest in people aged 15 to 24 and almost 80% cases occurred in this age group. Almost 2200 women’s were diagnosed in 2011 with chlamydia in per 100,000 people. However, almost 50% of men and 80% of women diagnosed are asymptomatic and because of this it is typical to reporting them. Usually, women’s are more likely to diagnose as compared to men, and this trend is revered in the age of 30 years. It is agreed by experts that in case of chlamydia most the increase is related to diagnosing testing. Advanced technology created more accurate tests because of which it is easy to identify the infection. Numbers of tests are introduced for identifying these infections. More number of people used these tests for the purpose of testing the infections, and unfortunately more positive results are found.  Detecting more number of infections is considered good thing because it became easy to cure this infection, but it is also considered as change which considered more dramatic as compared to reality.

Prevalence of Chlamydia among young generation

Generally, chlamydia is established because of oral sex, anal, vagina, and very often touching an eye with the hand if such hand has infected fluids on it. Women suffer bleeding between their periods or after sex, and pain in your pelvis or lower abdomen, or pain when urinating, and yellowish discharge with smell which is not unusual. Generally, there are no symptoms of this infection because of which it is hard identify this infection. It must be noted that almost 70-95% women with chlamydia experience no symptoms and in case of men almost 90% of men experience no symptoms of chlamydia (PopSugar, 2014).

This infection is considered as bacterial infection which usually infects the prostate, urethra, testes in men and the cervix, uterus, and pelvis in women. It must be noted that chlamydia does not carry any symptoms with it and most of the people are not aware that they have this infection and they need treatment. In case it is left untreated then it can cause serious issues such as in men it can result in inflammation of the upper genital tract and infertility, and in case of women it can result in ectopic pregnancies, chronic pelvic pain and infertility. It also increases the chances of contracting with other infections too such as HIV.

Treatment related to this infection is critical as both patient and their partner will be treated with antibiotics before they have sex again, and get tested again in almost 3-4 months for the purpose of ensuring that it is completely gone (ABC, 2016).

In 2011 this infection is the most reported infection in Australia, as almost 79833 cases related to this infection was found in people or almost 435 cases in every 100,000 population. This was almost 7 times hike in the rates of reportable STI gonorrhea. This rate is almost more than tripled in past decades, which increase from 130 notifications per 100,000 in 2001.

As stated, in the year 2011 more women were found suffering from chlamydia as compared to men. Almost 43636 women were diagnosed with the infection as compared to 33197 men who were aged between 15 years and above. Women aged between 15 and 19 years had increasing rates of diagnosis in 2011 with 2228 per 100,000 receive positive diagnosis. Overall, chlamydia diagnosis for men and women aged between 15 and 29 years accounted for 82% of diagnoses for the whole population (ABC, 2017).

Risks associated with Chlamydia

Chlamydia is considered as most common sexual infections in Australia, and there are number of people who did not know that this infection is increasing at the alarming rate. In the period of 1980, AIDS is epidemic and now message related to safe sex has given to deaf ears and because of which rates related to STI is increased. Leaders of the STI is chlamydia which is a bacterial infection and very common in both men and women. As per the experts, increase in the rate of chlamydia is not a topic of distress because now we are diagnosed this issue because of which rates are increasing. Experts further stated that young people are happy to be tested for chlamydia, because it is the only way through which this disease can be reduced, and doctors also offered young people to test this disease on the ground that if we test it more than we found it more.

The main reason behind this disease is the increasing number of teenage sex, and now age of first intercourse is reduced as now average age of first sex is 15 years, and in the old generation this age is almost 18 or 19. In other words, now people have few more years to infect. Numbers of evidences are present which states that teenagers are having more sex and especially girls. Generally, this infection is spread through vaginal and anal intercourse and sometimes through oral sex also, and when infected mother give birth to new born then this disease is transmitted in them as well. This infection result in eye and lung infection of new born. The best way to prevent this infection is use of condoms (Healthed, n.d.; Assefa, Ishak, Stevens, Fergussen, Giles, 1998).

While it must be noted that there are some other factors also which increase the risk of Chlamydia such as biological, social, cultural, and economic factors. Teenagers who are belong to neutral and single parents are more attracted to the intercourse as it increases the chance of ignorance. Some biological factors are also there such as new born child gets this infection from their mothers. When at initial stage safe sex message has been sent then it is found that almost 80% of first sexual experience is with condoms, and the main problem is continued use. One of the issues related to younger people is that if they have been with their partner for longer time then condoms may be disappearing. After few times with their partners, they change their partners and this result in more chances of attracting STI. As per one recent survey almost 80% women who are aged 16 to 25 have unprotected sex almost half of them did not even use condoms while having last sexual encounter. Government made various policies to deal with these issues such as using condoms, does not have sex without proper knowledge, having protected sex, take medical help in any unusual situation, etc.

Increase in Chlamydia diagnosis

This infection is usually clinically silent and increases the risk factors for chronic disease. Especially in the age of 15 years, to an emphasis on screening as an important part of the clinical care that generalist remote primary health care service providers opportunistically offer (Faggan, Cannan, & Crouvh, 2013).

Above stated factors affect the policies and measures taken by government, as it is really difficult to change the influence of cultural factors and biological factors, and the only way through which this can be reduced is by awaking the people about the severe causes and held sex education classes for young people (Medscape, 2014).

Conclusion: 

After considering the above facts, it is clear that STI are more common in young people especially aged 15-24 years as compared to other age groups. Such infections endanger the long term health of youth such as it is not possible to cure some STI and some STI damage the reproductive system if it is not treated. The main reason behind this disease is the increasing number of teenage sex, and now age of first intercourse is reduced as now average age of first sex is 15 years, and in the old generation this age is almost 18 or 19.

References:

Dehne KL., Riedner G. (2001); [Internet] Sexually transmitted infections among adolescents: the need for adequate health services. Reprod Health Matters 9: 170-183.Advocates for Youth.

Young People and Sexually Transmitted infections; [Updated 2014 Feb; Cited 2017 October 18]; Available from: https://www.advocatesforyouth.org/publications/publications-a-z/2301-young-people-and-sexually-transmitted-infections.

Taffa N, Bjune G, Sundby J, Gaustad P, Alestrøm A(2002)Prevalence of gonococcal and chlamydial infections and sexual risk behaviours among youth in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Sex Transm Dis 29: 823-833.

PopSugar [Internet] [internet]. Five Fast Facts: The 5 Most Common STIs in Australia; [Updated 2014 May 2; Cited 2017 October 18]; Available from: https://www.popsugar.com.au/fitness/5-Most-Common-STIs-Sexually-Transmitted-Diseases-Australia-34701057#photo-34701077.

ABC [Internet]. Sexually transmitted diseases on the rise in Western Australia; [Updated 2016 December 30; Cited 2017 October 18]; Available from: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-30/big-rise-in-stis-in-western-australia/8154350.

ABC [Internet]. Sexually transmissible infections: Why are STIs on the rise in Australia?; [Updated 2017 August 16; Cited 2017 October 18]; Available from: https://www.abc.net.au/news/health/2017-08-16/why-are-stis-on-the-rise-in-australia/8774378.

Assefa A, Ishak A, Stevens R, Fergussen E, Giles M, et al. (1998) Prevalence of HIV, syphilis and genital chlamydial infection among women in North-West Ethiopia. Epidemiol Infect 120: 171-177.

Healthed [Internet] STI Rates in Australia. [Cited 2017 October 18]; Available from: https://www.healthed.com.au/clinical-articles/brief-update/sti-rates-in-australia/.

Medscape [Internet]. Chlamydia Trachomatis Culture. [Updated 2014 December 20; Cited 2017 October 18]; Available from: https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/2119210-overview.

Faggan, P. Cannon, F. & Crouch, A. (2013). The Young Person Check: screening for sexually transmitted infections and chronic disease risk in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth, Available from: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1753-6405.12078/full.