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positive. Sorne health officials feel
the virus may reactivate to circu–
late in the bloodstream or become a
partía! or full -blown active infec–
tion if the body becomes weakened
under a siege of sickness or from
stress in severa! directions.
almost exclusívely by sexual con–
tact but other diseases capable of
being spread by sexual contact and
by nonsexual or unhygienic
means.
The American Social Health
Association estimates
1O
mi Ilion
Americans visit doc–
tors' offices and clinics
Chlamydia
trachomatis
every year for these
diseases. In England,
more than half a mil–
lion new cases of STDs
are treated at clinics
and hospitals.
infections, more
widespread than
gonorrhea, are
a major cause
of sterility and pelvic
inflammations in
adults; eye infection,
blindness,
pneumonia in infants.
One in four Ameri–
cans between the ages
of 15 and 55 will
acquire a sexually
transmíssíble disease at
sorne point in his or her
life.
Chlamydia Infecta
a human
tlssue culture.
Unlike syphilis and
gonorrhea, which
The sexual revolution of the past
severa! decades has put scores of
thousands of nonmonogamous mar–
ried índivíduals, and singles, at risk.
Many are spreading one of the
most devastating and deadly of
viruses, and possibly other sexually
transmitted diseases, unknowingly
to others. The risk is in direct pro–
portíon to the number of sexual
partners they have had- either
heterosexual or homosexual.
Dr. Mervyn Silverman, the presi–
dent of the U .S. Conference of Local
Health Officers, said that the threat
of AIDS, combined with existing
fears about genital herpes and other
sexually transmitted diseases, has
pulled the reins on the galloping sex–
ual freedom of the last 20 years. " I
believe the sexual revolutíon ís just
about over," he said.
Why New Diseases
A long and growing Iist of other
sexually transmissible pathogens–
many unrecognized as such a
decade ago-has health officials
worried.
Medica! and health officials have
shifted away from discussing social
diseases by the term "venereal dis–
ease." They are now called sexually
transmitted or, even more accurate–
ly, sexually transmissible díseases
(STDs). This term describes the
true picture of the problem as it
íncludes not only diseases spread
6
usually respond to anti–
biotics, sorne of the newly recog–
nized STD s confound medica!
science. They cannot always be
cured and can result in chronic
pain, steri líty, abnormal pregnan–
cies, damaged children and can–
cer.
lt
is important, however, to make
clarifications about sorne of the
pathogens to avoid unmerited self–
recrimination or embarrassment.
Sorne cases of these diseases are
not related to promíscuíty, marital
ínfidelity or other sexual indiscre–
tion. Sorne STDs can develop with–
in faithful marriages or with
no
sexual contact at all. Not all ST O
infections are always avoidable,
even by the most moral or faithful
of persons. Contaminated blood
transfusions
or
hypodermic injec–
tíons or contaminated food or
water, can transfer a few of these
organisms.
Virgin men and women and
faithful mates have gotten sorne
cases of monílía, urethrítis (NGU),
tríchomoniasís or venereal warts.
Scabies, caused by a mite, and pu–
bíc lice are infestations that can be
· picked up not only by sexual rela–
tíons, but by close body contact
with infected persons or infected
beddíng or clothing.
Monilia is caused by an over–
blooming yeast organism that nor–
mally Jives harmlessly in the "flo–
ra" of the genital region.
If
the nat-
ural microbiotic balance is upset by
sorne means- stress, drugs, preg–
nancy or tight clothing , for
instance- the yeast organism may
rapidly overgrow, creating a dis–
comfortíng infection that can be
easíly transmítted sexually.
The disease called nongonococ–
cal urethritis is caused by different
organisms (sorne known, sorne
unknown). This infection may also
be caused and spread in similar
manner.
Yet , while certain cases of STDs
bave nothing to do with immoral
behavior, most of the STO epi–
demic is caused by promiscuous,
freewheeling and permissive sexual
conduct. Health authorities estí–
mate between 20 and 30 percent of
highly sexually active persons have
one or more of these diseases.
Shock ing New Sterilizer
Researchers have been startled to
discover there is a greater infec–
tious agent causing genital infec–
tions and sterility than gonorrhea.
The pinpointed pathogen is
Chlamydia trachomatis.
It is the
fastest growing STD. Gonorrhea
struck an estimated two million
Americans last year, but chlamydia
is estimated to have infected three
to four million. This disease
annually causes pelvic inflamma–
tions in thousands of women and,
along with gonorrhea, is a major
cause of sterílity.
One authority estimates 150,000
of the severa! million U.S. females
harboring the bacteria will become
sterile. Sorne bealth authorities
have estimated 5 percent of college
females in the United States have
the infection.
Before its identification, this
infection was treated with general
antibiotics as a relatively harmless
unspecified nongonococcal infec–
tious agent of the urethra or of the
vagina. But far from being harm–
less, chlamydia is now recognized
as one of the greatest causes of pel–
vic inflammation and infertility in
adults, and blindness and pneumo–
nia in infant cbildren.
Gonorrhea may be treated wíth
penicillin, but penicillin won't cure
chlamydia. Because the organism is
so persistent, it takes 1
O
to 14 days
of the more powerful and costly
(Continued on page 39)
The
PLAIN TRUTH