A high school in West Texas is facing an alarming outbreak of chlamydia after several students tested positive for the disease. Chlamydia is the most common STD that can infect both men and women, according the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and it can cause serious and even permanent damage to a woman's reproductive system if not treated making it difficult or impossible for her to pregnant later on.
In a letter sent by Crane Independent School District officials to parents, there have been at least 20 cases of chlamydia diagnosed in the student body consisting of 300 students. However, it seems the cases of chlamydia and other STDs are not limited to just the Crane Independent School District. The Dallas County Health and Human Services admitted that since 2013, the number of diagnosed cases of chlamydia and other STDs has increased by 31 percent.
"This happens in any town, but just for it to hit close to home, I mean parents need to be aware of the situation and make sure they tell their kids to be safe and practice safe sex," Diana Martinez, a Crane parent with young children, said. "I guess now that it's actually getting big, especially if it's coming out in the news, I mean that's pretty nasty."
In El Paso, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Wisconsin Population Health Institute reported at least 600 cases of chlamydia are reported for every 100,000 people in the area. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, eight of the top eleven states with the highest rates of sexually transmitted diseases such as chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis are in the South.
Most people who are infected with chlamydia have no idea they have the disease as they show no symptoms. When symptoms do finally appear, it can be weeks after contracting the disease from an infected partner. Even if it doesn't present with systems, it can still damage the reproductive system.
If chlamydia is not treated, it can spread to the uterus and fallopian tubes causing pelvic inflammation disease, otherwise known as PID. Often even if the disease spreads, it may not show symptoms initially, PID can cause permanent damage to the reproductive system of women leading to the inability to become pregnant, or even the deadly ectopic pregnancy.
In men, there are rarely health problems related to the disease. In rare cases, the infection can spread to the tube that carries sperm from the testicles, causing paint and fever. In some cases, chlamydia can even cause enough damage to prevent a man from being able to have children, although these cases are very rare.
