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Maternal & Child Health > Needs Assessment > Sexually Transmitted Diseases Fact Sheet Sexually Transmitted Diseases Fact Sheet

Healthy People 2010 Goal:

  • To reduce sustained domestic transmission of primary and secondary syphilis to 0.2 cases per 100,000 population.
  • To reduce gonorrhea to 19 cases per 100,000 population.
  • To reduce the proportion of adolescents and young adults (15-24 years old) with chlamydia trachomatis infections to 3% of the total population of that age group.

Consequences:

  • Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) can lead to related conditions such as pelvic inflammatory disease, cervical cancer, and complications in pregnancy.
  • Left untreated, STDs can cause infertility, cancer, birth defects and miscarriages, even death.

Behavioral Causes:

  • Exchange of sex for drugs, decreased motivation to use barrier protection, and decreased attempts to seek medical treatment.

Prevalence in Indiana:

  • STDs are more frequent in women and women suffer more serious STD complications than men. The higher risk in women is partly because of their physiology.
  • Among adolescents and young adults, females and males age 10-19 years had the highest reported cases of both chlamydia and gonorrhea. (2003 ISDH report)

Trends toward Healthy People 2010 Goals:

  • Between 1999 and 2003, the chlamydia incidence rate worsened among adolescent women. This may be attributed, in part, to more accurate tests becoming available (an increase of 17.7% of cases between 1999 and 2003). Indiana will not be able to reach the Healthy People 2010 goal for adolescents (age 10-19 years).
  • Adolescent syphilis cases decreased considerably (number of adolescent syphilis cases in 2003 was 13). This trend demonstrates the significant progress towards syphilis elimination in adolescents and Indiana is not far from reaching the Healthy People 2010 goal.
  • Adolescent gonorrhea morbidity has been stable between 1999 and 2002 and slightly decreased in 2003. A greater number of cases was reported among adolescent blacks (60%) than among all other racial groups combined. More adolescent females (69.7%) suffered from gonorrhea than males (25.5%). Indiana will not be able to reach the Healthy People 2010 goal.

 

2003 STD cases in adolescents (age 10-19 years): Indiana

STD

Number of Cases

Gonorrhea

1,814

Chlamydia

6,261

Syphilis

13

Source: Indiana State Department of Health