WHAT DO I DO IF I THINK I HAVE AN STD? (Herpes simplex)

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    * Contact the Columbia/Boone County Health Department Clinic at 874-7355 and make an appointment. All services and treatments are free. The clinic is located at 1005 W. Worley St. and is open from 8 a.m to 5 p.m.
    * There is an STD clinic on Tuesdays from 5 to 7 p.m., but the clinic will perform tests for STDs during regular hours as well.

Gonorrhea and chlamydia rates in Boone County are higher than rates for Missouri and the nation as a whole.

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services 2004 profile of HIV and STDs in Missouri shows that one in 185 Boone County residents reported a case of chlamydia and one in 599 reported a case of gonorrhea.

For both diseases, 95.4 percent of Boone County cases were reported in Columbia.

The numbers are higher in Columbia because of the population and because the city/county health department and testing center is here, said Bill Monroe, the regional HIV consulting and testing coordinator. Monroe said the testing center sees patients from all over the county.

Missouri ranked 10th in the nation for gonorrhea and chlamydia rates, according to numbers released in November by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The rates were taken from cases reported in 2004.

Boone County s chlamydia rate has been steadily increasing since 2000 along with the state and national rate.

The national rise is attributed to the expansion of testing efforts and the fact that tests for chlamydia have become better at detecting the disease, said Jennifer Ruth of the CDC.

Although the national gonorrhea rate has decreased since 2000, Boone County s rate has increased.

The (national) decline could be due to shifts in testing patterns, less gonorrhea testing, or a real decrease in the number of new cases, Ruth said.

The CDC ranked Missouri 25th in syphilis cases last year. The state s rate for the disease has fluctuated since 2000. There were fewer than five cases of syphilis reported in Boone County in 2004, according to the state health department.

The Columbia/Boone County Health Department s data for January through October 2005 shows there have been 205 cases of gonorrhea, 622 of chlamydia and fewer than five of syphilis reported in the county.

The statistics provided from various sources may not provide figures for all STDs because some are not considered reportable diseases, said Lynn Fair, a women s nurse practitioner at the health department clinic.

For example, herpes and genital warts are no longer considered reportable diseases, which means testing centers do not report cases to the CDC or health departments.

Reportable diseases, in general, cause more damage and there is more of a risk of passing it to the fetus, Fair said.

Fair, who has been at the health department for 14 years, said the clinic sees about 40 people during its STD clinic, which is held Tuesday evenings from 5 to 7 p.m. Fair stressed that the STD clinic is for high-risk cases only. A high-risk case involves someone who has multiple sex partners and does not use protection or has experienced symptoms. The clinic s services are free, and patients can make an appointment for STD testing at any time.

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