Sexual health workers in Australia are reporting the highest rates of chlamydia seen in the last seven years.

The city of Gisborne has jumped up the charts and now registers with the highest rate of chlamydia in the country, with 15 to 19-year-olds recording the most cases of the sexually-transmitted infection.

“We want to bring about awareness that we all have the responsibility to control our fertility and have a say about our fertility,” says family planning practice nurse Kaye Foreman. “Whether we are delaying having a family or wanting to know more about the steps to take . . . you don’t want it blighted with an STI.”

Nearly 20 percent of women coming into the clinic unknowingly had chlamydia, she said.

“People don’t know they have it because there are no symptoms, it is the silent infection,” says Foreman. “But the spread of it can be stopped with the use of condoms. It is getting worse and worse . . . and HIV will be following close behind if we aren’t careful.”

Family planning positive sexual health co-ordinator Linda Coulston said it had to be “cool” for teenagers to start wearing condoms.

“If a girl has a condom in her wallet ‘just in case’ she is labelled badly by other kids, but it has to start being the cool thing to do . . . it is about information and awareness,” she says.

It was also important for men to start taking more responsibility, said Foreman.  “They are 50 percent responsible for everything that happens.”

– by Gene J. Koprowski, Editorial Director

Chlamydia infection rates rise as out-of-control sex flourishes.

Posted: September 30th, 2008 under Chlamydia, Diseases.
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The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is giving a grant of $1 million to researchers who are developing a vaccine for Chlamydia, one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases in the world.  Chlamydia infects more than 92 million people around the world every year, and is linked to 60,000 maternal deaths per year due to ectopic pregnancy and is a major co-factor facilitating HIV transmission.

Experimental trials of the vaccine in animals have shown success in preventing infection.  “Our approach represents an important new tool in the arsenal against infectious diseases. With control programs failing in many countries, including Canada, the development of a safe and effective Chlamydia vaccine would represent a fundamental breakthrough in global health,” said Robert Brunham, a professor of medicine at UBC.

Researchers have identified T-cell antigens as a viable Chlamydia vaccine candidate. A T-cell is a type of white blood cell.

“The emerging science of proteomics — the study of proteins that are the building blocks of human life — will likely underpin life sciences research for the next 50 years,” says Foster. “By using the latest generation of mass spectrometry equipment, we can use immunoproteomics to identify T-cell antigens that appear in Chlamydia- infected cells. As shown by the development of UBC’s Chlamydia vaccine, our proteomics facility can take the guesswork out of vaccine and drug discovery, and hopefully make it easier for vaccines to move out of labs and help those who need them.”

NIAID is a division of the National Institutes of Health. NIAID supports basic and applied research to prevent, diagnose and treat infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections, influenza, tuberculosis, malaria and illness from potential agents of bioterrorism. NIAID also supports research on basic immunology, transplantation and immune-related disorders, including autoimmune diseases, asthma and allergies.

– by Gene J. Koprowski, MA, Editorial Director

Posted: July 18th, 2008 under Chlamydia, Developing Diseases, Diseases, Impaired Immunity.
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