Chlamydia alert for ‘Schoolies’

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDNov 24 2010

School leavers partying on the Gold Coast, Queensland may be at risk of serious sexually transmitted infections due to unprotected sex in the mood of celebration say health experts. Health specialists from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) warn the youngsters in the 2010 Australian Chlamydia Conference in Brisbane.

Willa Huston, from QUT’s Institute for Health and Biomedical Innovation, revealed that there are many women who are unaware they had chlamydia, which can cause infertility, until they tried to have a baby. Dr Huston said, “Queensland is experiencing the highest number of notified chlamydia cases of men and women in Australia, with 15,159 new cases already diagnosed in 2010 to the end of October…What is concerning is that 15- to 24-year-olds have the highest rates of infection…We are already seeing that one in five couples is having trouble conceiving, and for 20 per cent of these it is because of chlamydia…We would expect infertility will increase significantly in the future as more young men and women contract the disease.”

Jane Hocking, from the University of Melbourne’s Centre for Women’s Health said, “I would advise all schoolies that if they’re going to have sex to please use a condom, and as an added precaution when they get back home go see their GP and ask for a chlamydia test, which is a simple urine test.” She added, “They’re kids, they’re away from school, they’ve had a tough year and it’s a hard message to get through, it’s probably not foremost in their minds…If they can remember to use a condom that’s fantastic, but they should also double-check and have a chlamydia test when they get back home too.”

QUT’s Ken Beagley, who is developing a vaccine against chlamydia cautions, “I think we’re probably looking at another 10 years at least before we’re going to have a trial of a vaccine for humans.” Professor Beagley added that prevention by using condoms and getting checked up is the best cure till then.