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Forsyth goes through sharp rise in number of STD cases
Incidence of syphilis, AIDS, chlamydia, gonorrhea is up
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Published: October 18, 2009
The sharp increase in syphilis cases in Forsyth County this year is carrying over into other sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS.
A report issued Friday by the N.C. Division of Public Health found that cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and AIDS have increased in Forsyth from January to September compared with the same time period in 2007.
The number of chlamydia cases was up 670 to 2,297, while the number of gonorrhea cases was up 74 to 627 and the number of residents with AIDS was up 25 to 47.
The report comes less than two months after the epidemiology section of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services said that Forsyth leads the state in new cases of syphilis. The number has more than doubled -- from 70 to 149 infectious cases -- in the four months since the department first said that there was an outbreak here.
Forsyth is the only county in the Triad and Northwest North Carolina to have an increase in all four categories.
Syphilis is a bacterial infection spread through sexual contact that can produce rashes or sores in the groin area. A blood test reveals whether a person has syphilis. The disease is curable and, at most stages, typically treated with antibiotics.
Left untreated, syphilis can cause damage to the heart and to the central nervous system.
Local and state health officials conducted on Aug. 29 an outreach effort in Forsyth neighborhoods where there have been a cluster of new syphilis cases. More than 600 residents agreed to be tested for syphilis through that effort.
There are several reasons for the increase in local STD cases, said Dr. Laura Bachmann, an associate professor of medicine in the infectious-diseases section at Wake Forest University Health Sciences.
"Individuals who acquire one STD are at risk for other STDs," Bachmann said. "Therefore, if syphilis increases in the community, we will likely see increases in other STDs, including HIV.
"There is no doubt that the dramatic increases in syphilis cases in the county are real. They may have increased due to the development of improved diagnostic tests that lead to the detection of disease in the community that would have otherwise gone undetected."
Bachmann and Patrice Toney, the HIV/STD prevention supervisor for the Forsyth health department, said that complacency about STDs is leading to riskier behavior in some groups. Toney said that high risk includes people who abuse drugs and alcohol and sell sex for drugs.
"The increase in cases going from HIV to AIDS may be a factor of some people not being able to get regular HIV treatment because they can't afford it or cuts in funding," Toney said.
State officials said that though Forsyth has had the most cases of syphilis this year, Mecklenburg and Wake counties also have experienced surges in all four categories.
"We are very concerned about this serious increase in early infectious syphilis," said Evelyn Foust, the director of the N.C. Communicable Disease Branch.
"We want persons who are sexually active to be tested and to respond to possible symptoms by going to the doctor earlier, rather than later." The Division of Public Health has joined with local health departments to offer free testing for sexually transmitted diseases.
"Some people may not use as good a judgment in bad economic times, engaging in more drinking and drug use that may lead to encounters of unprotected sex," Foust said.
Bachmann said that people who have HIV are living longer and having better-quality lives as a result of therapeutic advances.
"HIV is no longer perceived by the community to be as serious a disease as it was in the past and this change in perception has led to a resurgence of sexually transmitted diseases, including syphilis, in many communities throughout the country," she said.
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