Other sexually transmitted diseases don’t get the attention HIV does, which causes Dr. John Toney some distress. An estimated 19 million new infections occur each year, most of them not HIV. Almost half are in people 15- to 24 years old. Chlamydia diagnoses are skyrocketing. Syphilis, at an all-time low nine years ago, is increasing steadily with a big boost in men. Although its numbers are fairly stable nationwide, gonorrhea still occurs more than it should.

HIV/AIDS gets the attention, in large part, because of the number of people who die from it. People infected with other STDS, like gonorrhea or syphilis, are at least 2-to-5 times more likely than uninfected people to get HIV infection when exposed to HIV during sex. That’s according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s true for all races.

Higher rates of poverty among blacks than whites, accompanied by socioeconomic barriers to prevention and treatment, are associated with their higher rates of both STDs and HIV. Syphilis and herpes, producing sores and ulcers, make it much easier for the HIV virus to get into the body. With gonorrhea and chlamydia, inflammation pushes cells that could get infected closer to the surface, again making HIV infection easier.

Blacks had about 70 percent of reported gonorrhea cases, 48 percent of all chlamydia cases and 46 percent of syphilis cases nationwide in 2007, the CDC reported. They’re about 12 percent of the population. Black teenagers who are 15-to-19 years old have the highest rates of chlamydia or gonorrhea of any group, CDC said in January. Black women were 16 times more likely to have syphilis than white women, 15 times more likely to have gonorrhea and seven times more likely to have chlamydia in 2006, according to the Black AIDS Institute’s report on “The State of AIDS in Black America 2009.”

Many cases of STDS don’t get diagnosed. Some don’t cause symptoms or the symptoms are mild. Some common viral infections, like human papillomavirus and genital herpes, don’t get reported. CDC recommends annual chlamydia screening for all sexually active women younger than 25. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends screening all high risk, sexually active women for gonorrhea. CDC agrees with that recommendation.

For the complete article, please refer to http://www.theledger.com/article/20090626/NEWS/906265055/1410?Title=Worry-Over-AIDS-Hides-Rising-STD-Infections