Health officials target STD spike in Davis County

FARMINGTON — Chlamydia and gonorrhea are two steadily increasing sexually transmitted diseases along the Wasatch Front, and health department directors are wondering if there's more they can do to keep the STDs from spreading.

County health departments, epidemiologists and the Utah Department of Health will meet in April at the Davis Conference Center in Layton to figure out what's working and what's not.

Since 1999, Davis County has seen an increase in the rate of gonorrhea from 1.7 cases per 100,000 residents to 20 cases per 100,000 residents, said Davis County Health Department director Lewis Garrett.

Chlamydia cases have gone from 46 per 100,000 residents to 187 per 100,000 residents in the same time.

"I hate to say it," Garrett told the Davis County Board of Commissioners Tuesday, "but we're starting to look like California."

Last week was a typical week for Davis County with 15 reported cases of STDs, he added.

The 20- to 30-year-old population has reported the bulk of cases.

"It's tough to reach that population," Garrett said.

To do that, the county currently employs a technique called contact tracing.

When someone is diagnosed with an STD, either by a private physician or at the county's clinic in Farmington, that person can be treated and cured with a regimen of antibiotics. Because STDs are a public health risk, there are mandatory reporting requirements for private doctors, Garrett said.

Once the local health department learns of a case, a health department worker tries to make contact with the infected person to conduct a sensitive interview to find out who else might have been exposed to the disease, Garrett said.

The department then tries to contact people who may be infected to get them treatment. Authorities say all personal information is held in strict confidence.

Contact tracing has some success, particularly when the health department can contact all parties.

"Clearly, it's not enough to keep this increase in check," Garrett said.

But when people are engaging in high-risk sexual behavior, like unprotected sex with multiple partners, there may be more the county can do to combat STDs.

That's what officials hope to learn during April's summit.

Representatives from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will offer training to health departments for contact tracing and to share other methods for informing people on steps to take to reduce their risks of infection.

Garrett said anyone engaging in high-risk sexual behavior should be tested for STDs.

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E-mail: jdougherty@desnews.com