Michelle Corson and the Kern County Public Health Services Department have been busy. With an alarming rate of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) impacting Kern County, they are ramping up efforts to bring awareness to Kern County residents.
"STDs are having a tremendous effect on Kern County, the health of our our residents and the future of our young people," said Corson.
STIs are becoming increasingly common worldwide, and for Kern County, those rates are the among the highest in the state, as well as the nation.
When logging onto the Public Health Department website, the STD services section gives viewers statistics right away. Kern County is ranks first for Chlamydia diagnosis in the state. This is followed by a second ranking for Syphilis, and a third ranking for gonorrhea.
These are the three common STDs that the World Health Organization says are becoming untreatable. Gonorrhea is now becoming resistant to the antibodies, prompting WHO to change their guidelines about treatment.
“Chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis are major public health problems worldwide, affecting millions of peoples’ quality of life, causing serious illness and sometimes death. The new WHO guidelines reinforce the need to treat these STIs with the right antibiotic, at the right dose, and the right time to reduce their spread and improve sexual and reproductive health. To do that, national health services need to monitor the patterns of antibiotic resistance in these infections within their countries," said WHO Department of Reproductive Health and Research Director, Ian Askew.
However, Corson says these new guidelines have been practiced in Kern County for years.
For gonorrhea, WHO urges doctors to cater treatment to their communities and to prescribe antibodies that aren't commonly resistant within their respected areas.
When it comes syphilis, WHO recommends a single dose of Benzathine penicillin, which there is commonly a global shortage of.
And for Chlamydia, WHO emphasizes testing, because the bacterial infection often doesn't have any symptoms.
For more information, you can read the full article from WHO, here.
