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Chlamydia is the most prevalent communicable disease in Kosciusko County, according to Robert Weaver, Kosciusko County Health Department administrator.
The bacterial illness is most often seen in people age 18 to 30, Weaver said. The National Institutes of Health report that chlamydial infection is the most common sexually transmitted bacterial disease in the United States today. The NIH said the highest rates of the infection are in 15- to 19-year-olds.
Untreated, the disease can cause serious damage. Doctors estimate that in women, one-third of chlamydial infections result in pelvic inflammatory disease. Left untreated, PID in men and women can cause infertility.
Chlamydia is also one of the many communicable diseases that, by law, must be reported to the county health officer by every physician and hospital administrator.
Other communicable diseases and conditions that must be reported include acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), anthrax, cholera, gonorrhea and syphilis, and more than 60 others. All of the diseases can be spread from person to person.
Before 1995, state officials handled all investigations into communicable diseases. The state then decided to turn the investigations over to county health departments, except AIDS cases, Weaver said.
The Indiana State Department of Health recently released figures showing the number of reported HIV cases in Indiana between 1985 and 1998 is approximately 3,097.
In Kosciusko County, eight cases of HIV were reported within the same time frame.
The state reported 5,222 full- blown AIDS cases during that time. Kosciusko County reportedly had 19 full-blown AIDS cases during the 12-year period. Kosciusko County cases jumped from 11 to 19 in just the past three years.
AIDS Task Force, Fort Wayne, said the Centers for Disease Control estimated that two-thirds of infected people are not aware they have HIV or AIDS. The number a county reports is only one-third of the actual cases, the Task Force said.
The majority of HIV-positive cases in Indiana were within the 20- to 29-year-old age bracket. The 30- to 39-year-old age bracket counted for 47 percent of Indiana AIDS cases reported. Youth are hit hard, the AIDS Task Force said.
U.S. senate nominee and Fort Wayne Mayor Paul Helmke said, "Public school systems need to get out the information (on communicable diseases). Public school systems are so vital in helping protect public health."
AIDS and HIV are not solely young people's diseases. The number of people over age 50 who have the deadly diseases has tripled in previous years, the Task Force said.
HIV-positive cases were 86 percent male and 67 percent white in Indiana. AIDS cases were 92 percent male and 77 percent white.
Nationally, the Task Force estimated one person in every 300 is infected with HIV or AIDS.
Minorities, including Hispanics, African-Americans and other non-white ethnic groups counted for less than 34 percent of HIV-positive cases in Indiana, and less than 23 percent of AIDS cases. The Task Force said HIV or AIDS is on the rise among minorities and people living in rural areas.
Many people may see the numbers and still not know what they mean because they don't know the difference between AIDS and HIV-positive.
AIDS tests look for the presence of the antibodies which defend against the AIDS virus. The antibodies are made by the human body. If the test for the antibodies is positive, it is evidence of an AIDS virus infection. People testing positive are described as being HIV-positive.
A positive test does not mean the tested person has AIDS. When the person develops serious symptoms, they then have AIDS.
Weaver said that, like other communicable diseases, the level of HIV-positive cases has not dramatically increased or decreased.
"In this county, the HIV-positive number is about the same. It's not high," Weaver said.
He also said the infected persons may not necessarily have contracted the virus in the county. A person may have contracted it elsewhere and returned to the county to be with family, Weaver said.
Another serious communicable disease is meningitis. Weaver said it is the most severe disease that anyone can get and the scariest.
Meningitis is a very serious communicable disease that can strike anyone but often strikes infants. The entire family must be given medicine to keep them from getting the disease once it has been diagnosed.
Weaver said, "You don't just file those away."
If the KCHD receives a report of meningitis, the department checks it out right away. This year, the county received two reports of the disease as of the third week in September, Weaver said.
Chlamydial infections, HIV, AIDS and meningitis are just a few of the communicable diseases that the health department deals with on a regular basis. Luckily, the county has not been touched by a rise in any of the diseases.
One reason Kosciusko County has been lucky may be that the community is educated about communicable diseases.
"I think they (citizens) are well-informed, ..." Weaver said. "If there is something in the news about a disease, we'll get calls the next day asking for more information about it."
