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inftammation and discharge from
the urethra. Infected females may
have abdominal pain or abnormal
vaginal discharge. That's with
symptoms.
The catch is, in the words of Dr.
William Bowie of the division of
infectious diseases at the Universi–
ty of British Columbia in Canada,
"When you screen people for chla–
mydia, you find 50 percent who
have it have no symptoms." This
alarms Dr. Bowie and other health
officials. Chlamydia, they have
found, is more subtle in its infec–
tious patterns than gonorrhea but
can be just as devastating. Symp–
tomless infections can suddenly
produce tragic tissue damage and
health consequences.
After testing female students at
the University of British Columbia,
Bowie found chlamydia present in
7 percent of the population, an inci–
dence lO times higher than gonor–
rhea. "To me that's a frighteningly
high figure," he said.
To compound the problem,
researchers have found that 20 per–
cent of men and up to 60 percent of
women who have gonorrhea also
have chlamydia. But whereas peni–
cillin may be effective against gon–
orrhea, it is useless against chla–
mydia. Only tetracycline or more
powerful drugs are effective. Less–
er antibiotics used against this dis–
ease pathogen, or against resistant
strains of gonorrhea, may only
drive symptoms, if any, under–
ground. Infected persons feel they
are cured, only to have the patho–
gen wreak havoc later.
A recent study of infertile
women in France found 25 percent
of the infertility was due to chla–
mydia. Other studies in Europe
have found it involved in up to 60
percent of women with pelvic
inftammatory disease (PID). PID
often leads to sterility, pregnancy
problems or female organ compli–
cations.
A University of Washington
prenatal clinic found chlamydia in
5 to 20 percent of groups of preg–
nant women. A New Orleans study
found 23 percent of inner-city
pregnant women, mostly blacks,
had a chlamydia infection, but most
didn't know it.
"The real victims of today's STO
explosion are babies and mothers-
16
and would-be mothers," said a wor–
ried gynecologist. There is a better
than 50 percent chance that an
infant passing through an infected
birth canal, and infected, will
develop an eye disease or pneumo–
nia. Hence the explosion in cesar–
ean births.
"lnfertility from tuba! scarring
might be more often related to
chlamydial infection than gonococ–
cal infection," says Dr. King
K.
Holmes, STD authority at the U.S.
Public HeaJth Service Hospital in
Seattle. "Our group has disturbing
data showing that the fetuses of
women having chlamydial infec–
tions during pregnancy are at
increased risk for premature death,
stillbirth and neonatal death."
Chlamydia not only sterilizes as
a consequence of pelvic inftamma–
tion. But because it causes stric–
tures in sexual organs it is thought
to be to blame for alarming
increases in ectopic (tuba!) preg–
nancies. "Since each of these preg–
nancies represents one fetal death,
this constitutes an epidemic of fetal
deaths," says Holmes. Despite sur–
gery, the majority of these cases
end in sterility or permanent sexual
tissue damage.
A single case of pelvic inftamma–
tory disease can result in infertility
20 percent of the time, even if treat–
ment starts at the first .sign of infec–
tion. Three episodes of PID puts the
infertility rate at 75 percent.
"Adolescent girls often delay
treatment because of ignorance or
embarrassment, until their tubes
are wiped out," commented an
assistant director of adolescent
medicine at the University of Cali–
fornia's Medica! Center in San
Francisco. "The sad thing," she
says, "is that the reproductive
future of these girls is erased before
they've even had time to think
about it." Many she reports,
become despondent when they real–
ize they can't have children.
Scourge of Genital Herpes
Also competing for the position of
the number-one infectious STO is
genital herpes,
technically known
as herpes simplex, type 2.
A decade or so ago it was a little–
known infection. Today, according
to Dr. Mary Guinan of the Com–
municable Disease Center in Atlan-
ta, it is "probably the most wide–
spread of al! venereal diseases."
The disturbing part of this virus
is that once you have it, you have it
for the rest of your life. The major–
ity of persons infected with genital
herpes suffer recurring infectious
blisters. While the frequently pain–
ful lesions can often be alleviated
by medica! treatment, the disease is
incurable since the virus retreats
deep into tissues.
So far, every treatment that has
shown promise has failed to knock
out the virus. "Genital herpes is the
disease which keeps many venereal
disease specialists monogamous,"
says one health official.
While adult herpes sufferers fre–
quently find their lives emotionally
and socially upset, greater tragedies
afflict the newborn. Half of al!
babies passing through a herpes–
infected birth canal become in–
fected. And one quarter die or are
brain damaged. Furthermore, there
is a high correlation between
herpes, type 2, infections in women
and cancer of the cervix, although
the virus has not been absolutely
identified as the cause.
Again it is important to make
distinctions when discussing the
herpes problem. There are many
herpes viruses. Sorne manifest dif–
ferent symptoms or hit different
parts of the body.
Herpes simplex, type l, is a com–
mon, normally nonvenereally
passed virus that causes cold sores
on the lips, mouth or above the
waist.
It
is often found in a third or
more of population groups. This
virus is usually transferred by per–
sonal contact with others, by. kiss–
ing or using the same eating uten–
sils during infectious periods.
Genital herpes, however, is
almost always transmitted in sex–
related contact. Even autoinocula–
tion from an infected area can
transfer any herpes virus to other
mucous-membrane openings. Oral–
genital sex practices also spread
herpes viruses to reverse areas.
It
is
dangerous to pass any herpes -infec–
tion to the eyes.
Because of the sudden growth
and emotionally upsetting nature of
genital herpes, the American Social
Health Organization has estab–
lished a program called HELP.
Herpes sufferers in the United
Thfl PLAIN TRUTH