This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2008, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Marie thought she was being smart about sex. She thought she was in a monogamous relationship, so she didn't use condoms. But when the now-24-year-old started having random stomach cramps, she got tested and found out she had chlamydia, and that her boyfriend had been cheating.
That was in 2003. Now the Salt Lake City woman, who asked to use only her middle name, works in the health field trying to stem Utah's crush of chlamydia and gonorrhea cases.
"I never got taught about [sexually transmitted diseases] in school," she says. "My parents didn't talk to me about sex. I kind of had to learn the hard way."
So are thousands of Utahns, mostly teens and early 20-somethings. More than 6,400 Utahns had either chlamydia or gonorrhea last year. And while Utah rates of those STDs are low relative to the nation, they are increasing at an alarming pace.
Utah's rate of gonorrhea cases jumped faster than anywhere else from 2000 to 2005.
Public-health officials are at a loss to completely explain why. They point to more people getting screened with more sensitive tests. They wonder if improvements in HIV treatments have lifted a brake on risky sexual behavior. And they say more people are having sex with multiple partners without knowing how to protect themselves.
"We are not at a point right now where we can understand risk behaviors that are happening," said Teresa Garrett, director of public health nursing for the Utah Department of Health. "We're very busy just trying to get cases treated."
The high price of STDs
Public health officials say this ''crisis'' will lead to others: People with either STD are more likely to contract HIV. And the diseases can lead to infertility, mainly among women.
"Young people will not be able to have families when they want to," warns Melissa Larsen, executive director of Utah's Planned Parenthood Action Council.
That's the hook Larsen is successfully using to persuade Utah lawmakers to fund a $350,000 media campaign about STD risks, testing and treatment. HB15, sponsored by Rep. Phil Riesen, D-Holladay, is rocketing through the Legislature with help from the conservative Utah Eagle Forum.
Gayle Ruzicka, the forum's president, notes the campaign would promote abstinence before marriage and fidelity after as the "surest prevention."
The bill makes no mention of condoms, which can reduce the risk of transmission if used consistently and correctly, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"We're living in a world of . . . pleasure-seeking and now we're paying the price," Ruzicka said. "There's information that people need to know that hopefully will discourage them from activities that will lead to these kind of problems."
Providing protection
But health care providers partially blame the STD spike on Utah's abstinence-based sex education. In public schools, teachers can teach about condoms, but cannot advocate their use. A 2007 study for Congress by nonpartisan Mathematica Policy Research found "abstinence-only" programs didn't stop teens from having sex.
For teens who choose to have sex, the abstinence message is meaningless, say opponents.
"We need to educate them on how to protect themselves," said Nicole Mihalopoulos, a doctor at the University of Utah's Adolescent Medicine Clinic. She asks all her patients if they are sexually active. And she hands out condoms ironically called "Abstinence . . . the Condom."
At the Weber-Morgan Health District's abstinence-based program, project coordinator Becky Tierney hears urban legends that may provide insight into the STD surge: You can't get pregnant if you're not in the mood. You're safe if you don't move while having sex. Other health care workers say teens wrongly believe they are safe if they have anal or oral sex.
Lynn Beltran, the Salt Lake Valley Health Department's STD program manager, wants STD testing to become as routine as annual pap screenings. And she said the epidemic could be curbed if Utahns talked about it as much as they do other outbreaks.
"We had a cryptosporidium outbreak in the valley [swimming pools] this summer . . . [People] wanted to know if they were at risk, how they could prevent it. Well, we've been having an STD outbreak for years now but people really don't want to know about it."
Get tested
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends annual STD testing for all sexually active women 25 or younger. For a list of clinics that provide low-cost STD testing, go to http://health.utah.gov /cdc/std/std test.htm.
What's being done
* In 2007, the Weber-Morgan Health District received a 5-year, $3 million dollar federal grant to develop abstinence-based outreach programs. Project coordinator Becky Tierney said she also provides information about contraception, but cannot advocate its use. To teens who are sexually active, "We by no means [say], 'Oh no, be abstinent or just stop,' " Tierney said.
* Starting this semester, the Salt Lake Valley Health Department is going to University of Utah and Salt Lake Community College health classes to teach about a range of prevention options, from abstinence to condoms.