SUFFOLK COUNTY - April is Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) Awareness Month.  According to the Center for Disease Control one in every four Americans has an STD. Almost half of all STDs occur in 15 to 24-year-olds.  CDC also recommends all sexually active individuals be screened for STDs annually.

The Suffolk County Department of Health Services’ has launched a new STD internet partner notification program, which has been recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and the National Coalition of STD Directors.  Recent studies show that 87 percent of 12 to 28-year-olds are on-line using chat rooms and social networks to meet people.  Data pertaining to STD rates among individuals in this age group confirms the need to broaden the approach of partner notification to include new technology such as the internet.  This program is completely anonymous.

By law, Suffolk County doctors and laboratory facilities are required to report all positive STD tests (Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, Syphilis, Lymphogranuloma venereum, Chancriod and Human Immuno-deficiency Virus to the Suffolk County Department of Health Services, which then interviews the patient and requests contact information for their partners. This notification program has been in effect for many years.  Going forward the SCDHS will be taking advantage of an additional route to get in contact with individuals who may be infected. Patient confidentiality is one of our main concerns and is of the highest priority. Nowhere in the e-mail message does it state anything about STDs or how the screen name or email address was obtained. The message will simply request that the person call the Suffolk County Department of Health Services and provide a telephone number.

In addition, the Suffolk County Department of Health Service has reached out to the college community holding education and STD screenings earlier this month at Suffolk Community College, Dowling College and Stony Brook University. These events were well attended.  STDs among adolescents have received heightened national visibility as a result of studies presented at the National STD Prevention Conference in Chicago earlier this month. STD Awareness Month is an ideal time to stress the reality that STDs are everyone’s concern.