ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Friday, March 7, 1997                  TAG: 9703070067
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL   PAGE: C13  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: ATLANTA 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS

DISEASE CAN CAUSE INFERTILITY IN WOMEN MORE CHLAMYDIA SCREENINGS URGED

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention believes 7 out of 8 cases go undiagnosed.

The government Thursday urged more screening for chlamydia, a sexually transmitted disease that is the nation's most commonly reported infection.

Programs that screen for and treat chlamydia have reduced infections among women under age 20 who went to clinics in the mid-Atlantic and mountain regions, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

In the first half of 1996, 5.4 percent of 100,000 tests for chlamydia turned up positive in the mid-Atlantic region including Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. That's a 31 percent drop from 7.8 percent in 1994, the CDC said.

The CDC said 4.6 percent of 50,000 tests during that period were positive for chlamydia in the mountain region including Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming. That's a 16 percent drop from 5.5 percent in 1994.

Chlamydia is a parasite that can lead to infertility or tubal pregnancy. In 1995, the first year state epidemiologists tracked it, there were 477,638 reported cases, but the CDC estimates that the number of cases could be 4 million a year.

It's also common among young men, who are seldom offered screening.

Chlamydia is easy to cure, but often goes undiagnosed because it seldom causes symptoms.

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