The Secret Number One

Written by Daphne Emrick, SciJourn Reporter |

We won the World Series and we won the Super Bowl. Our mayor would even say we have the best-tasting tap water in the nation, but he probably won’t tell you we’re number one for Chlamydia.

Chlamydia is the most frequently reported bacterial sexually transmitted disease in the City of St. Louis in 2008, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Chlamydia is a sexually transmitted disease (STD). It is an infection acquired by sexual contact. Chlamydia is the silent STD—you can have it and not necessarily show any symptoms. Early symptoms, if they appear, are abnormal discharge from the vagina or penis and pain on urination. These appear within one to three weeks after infection and are usually quite mild, according to the St. Louis Examiner.

According the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, the St. Louis Region reported 5,294 cases of Chlamydia in 2008. Around 70% of those cases involved women infected with chlamydia.

Around 56% of the overall reported chlamydia cases are in the African-American community, the white community accounts for only 10% and 34% are “other” or unknown races.

Although St. Louis is number one in chlamydia, there are also other STDs to be aware of: aids, genital warts, gonorrhea, syphilis, herpes, pubic lice or crabs, and virginities hepatitis.

Those are a lot of different types of diseases that you can come in contact while engaging in anything sexual. Most of these STDs come with symptoms, but some don’t, so you could be living with one and not even know it. It’s always best to go to the doctor if you are engaging in any sexual activity, just to be safe. If you are engaging in sexual activities you can be safe if you use condoms; or you can even practice abstinence.