Deanna Talamantez
Free screenings for chlamydia and gonorrhea are now being provided to students at the Health Center in collaboration with the Los Angeles County Sexually Transmitted Disease Program.
Instead of paying the usual $26, free screenings are available to students between the ages of 14 to 29. Appointments are needed and the test requires a urine sample.
Ten percent of people between the ages of 14 and 29 have either chlamydia or gonorrhea, according to Beth Benne, R.N. and director of the student health department.
Results take one week to process. Those who test positive will be provided with free treatment and a check up appointment from the Los Angeles County Health Department.
The treatment, which normally ranges from $30 to $50, consists of four pills to be taken orally.
Those who get tested must complete the L.A. County STD Program consent form and a college chlamydia or gonorrhea program student questionnaire.
This confidential survey includes questions like: “What race(s) do you consider yourself?” “Why did you come to the clinic today?” and “In the past six months, how many people have you had sex with?
“Chlamydia is the most common bacterial STD in the United States,” according to www.lapublichealth.org/std. There are no symptoms in 75 percent of women and 50 percent of men who are infected
At Pierce, this screening is frequently requested. Every semester, about one person tests positive, according to Benne.
STDs are transmitted by having sex (vaginal, anal or oral) with an individual who has chlamydia and/or gonorrhea, according to the L.A. County STD Program.
Both can be treated and eventually cured with medicine.
If one has chlamydia, a man may have “a white or clear watery drip from the penis” and a woman might have “more discharge (flow) from the vagina than usual,” according to www.lapublichealth.org/std.
A person with gonorrhea will have a “white, yellow or green drip from [their] penis, vagina or anus.” He or she may also feel burning or pain when urinating.
Such signs of chlamydia will most likely occur one to three weeks after having sex with an infected person, according to the L.A. STD Program.
Both diseases are asymptomatic and are a source of infertility, Benne explained.
According to the L.A. County STD Program, both are serious diseases.
“If you don’t get treated, it can spread in your body. Both men and women may not be able to have children. If you are pregnant, your baby can be born sick with the disease,” according to this program’.
In 2002, there were 25,629 L.A. County STD cases reported among 10 to 24 year olds, including 21, 859 cases of chlamydia and 3,675 cases of gonorrhea, according to the Sexually Transmitted Diseases in Youth Report 2002 provided by the County of Los Angeles Department of Health Services.
The L.A. County STD Program advises people to limit their number of partners. One should get tested for STDs every six months if they have sex with more than one partner.
Although a contract hasn’t been officially established, Pierce was able to go forth and begin the screening because it’s free, according to Benne.
The L.A. County STD Program’s purpose is “to prevent and control sexually transmitted diseases in partnership with the communities of Los Angeles County,” according to www.lapublichealth.org/std.
“I want people to use this. I want people to take advantage of it. That’s what we’re here for,” Benne said.