GOVERNMENT

County's STD rate described as 'alarming'

Tim Hrenchir
threnchir@cjonline.com
Shawnee County's health department in a recent newsletter published this chart showing the county's gonorrhea rate compared to those for Kansas and the United States. Shawnee County's rate is in purple. Shawnee County had the highest rate in the state last year for gonorrhea cases per 100,000 population, county commissioners learned Monday. [Tim Hrenchir/The Capital-Journal]

Shawnee County had the highest gonorrhea rate last year of all Kansas counties, and its chlamydia rate was also well above average, Shawnee County commissioners learned Monday.

Shawnee County's gonorrhea rate in 2017 was nearly twice the national average, according to facts county health department director Linda Ochs and epidemiologist Lien Le shared with commissioners Bob Archer, Bill Riphahn and Kevin Cook.

"These are very alarming rates and very concerning to the health of our community," Cook said.

He encouraged the health department to work to figure out how to reduce those rates.

Shawnee County last year saw 825 new cases of gonorrhea, 1,284 new cases of chlamydia and 26 new cases of syphilis, Ochs said.

Appearing before the commission near the end of its meeting, she noted that the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have identified April as STD Awareness Month.

Ochs shared information from a summary the county health department published in a report this month in its EPI-SURVeillance newsletter of answers to questions it posed to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.

That document said the Shawnee County Health Department analyzed records of STD cases reported here between 2008 and 2018 and found increases in gonorrhea, chlamydia and syphilis. Those STDs also saw increases at the state and national levels.

"From 2008 to 2018, chlamydia and gonorrhea rates in Shawnee County have been consistently higher than the Kansas rate," the report said.

"In 2018, Shawnee County had the highest rate of gonorrhea in Kansas," it added.

Syphilis rates in Shawnee County were lower than the statewide rate, the report said.

Ochs told commissioners Shawnee County's above-average incidence of sexually transmitted diseases was among factors that affected it negatively in recent health rankings of Kansas counties made public by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute.

Shawnee County ranked 79th among Kansas counties in health outcomes for 2018, compared to 61st the previous year.

Figures provided by the county show Shawnee County's gonorrhea and chlamydia rates were higher than the state and national rates in each year between 2008 and 2017, except 2012, when Shawnee County's rates for both chlamydia and gonorrhea were higher than the state rates but slightly lower than the national rates.

In recent years, Shawnee County's gonorrhea rate per 100,000 population rose from 174.3 in 2015 to 257.9 in 2016, 334.6 in 2017 and 468.6 in 2018, according to figures provided by the county.

They indicated the state's rate per 100,000 population rose from 87.5 in 2015 to 115.5 in 2016, 156.3 in 2017 and 180.8 in 2018.

Nationally, the rate per 100,000 population rose from 123 in 2015 to 145 in 2016 and 171.9 in 2017, with 2018 figures not yet being available.

The county newsletter report expressed uncertainty as to why gonorrhea rates were increasing and whether that might be linked to an increase in gonorrhea testing.

"So, this is a million dollar question," the report said. "Rates are increasing everywhere, and there doesn't seem to be a good explanation. There is likely some increase in testing as we see more people with insurance, but the rate of increase does not coincide with the rate of available care. The CDC is stumped as we are here at KDHE."

In recent years, Shawnee County's chlamydia rate per 100,000 population rose from 501.7 in 2015 to 533.8 in 2016, 654 in 2017 and 720.6 in 2018.

Statewide, the rate rose from 396.2 in 2015 to 417.7 in 2016, 466.1 in 2017 and 488.9 in 2018.

Nationally, the rate rose from 475 in 2015 to 494.7 in 2016 and 528.8 in 2017, with 2018 figures not yet being available.