Chlamydia is the most common sexually transmitted infection (STI) in the UK. In 2007, there were almost 122,000 recorded new chlamydia infections, with over 1,700 cases in under-16s. Studies have shown that 10-15 per cent of sexually active young people aged 16-24 are infected with it at any one time.
In a new health education leaflet released today by the Family Education Trust, chlamydia is described as ‘the torpedo of the STI world’, travelling undetected and silently, often only noticed when it causes major and sometimes irreversible damage.
Following repeated attacks of chlamydia, the rates of infertility in women are very high, and there is increasing doubt as to whether the government’s chlamydia screening programme will reduce infertility rates.
Although the impression is frequently given that condoms offer complete protection against chlamydia, the leaflet highlights the fact that condoms only reduce the risk of chlamydia transmission by approximately a half.
Attractively produced and entitled Chlamydia and You, the leaflet is intended for use in GPs’ surgeries and sexual health clinics, and concludes that:
‘[T]he only sure way to prevent infection is to save sex until you are in a faithful lifelong relationship with an uninfected partner.’
Family Education Trust director, Norman Wells, commented:
‘Along with other titles in this series, we hope that Chlamydia and You will have a wide circulation and help to dispel many of the myths in circulation about sexually transmitted infections. It is simply not true to say that condoms provide the best protection you can get against infection.
‘People of all ages are finding to their cost that sex outside the context of a lifelong, mutually faithful relationship can result in an STI even if condoms are used. It’s time we started being honest with people and faced up to the fact that we shall not begin to see any lasting improvement in the nation’s sexual health without a radical shift away from a casual attitude towards sexual intimacy. It is not condom use that needs to be normalised, but keeping sex within marriage.’