- Secondary school pupils are to be screened for sexually
transmitted diseases to curb sharply rising infection rates.
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- Testing of teenagers for chlamydia, an infection thought
to occur in one in 10 sexually active British women, will offered in two
mixed schools in York in a scheme which, if successful, will be encouraged
across the country.
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- The experiment, provisionally backed by the head teachers
but not yet formally approved by governors, follows recommendations by
the Commons select committee on health which wanted more done to ensure
young people receive sexual advice and help.
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- Colleges, nightclubs and sports clubs will also be invited
to become test screening sites as ministers prepare to gamble that they
can stem sexual diseases in young people through controversial schemes,
even in schools where simple sex education can cause furious rows.
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- One in a hundred girls aged 16 to 19 is diagnosed with
chlamydia, the highest rate for women, while in men the age group at most
risk is 20- to 24-year-olds. It is easily spread through unprotected sex.
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- The number of known cases in England, Wales and Northern
Ireland rose by 14% last year to 81,680 - after more than doubling in the
five years before that - but most cases go undetected because up to five
in 10 men and seven in 10 women carrying the infection have no symptoms.
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- Women with untreated chlamydia can develop pelvic inflammatory
disease, leading to infertility or lower chances of conception. Babies
may be born with conjunctivitis or pneumonia. Official advice recommends
people diagnosed with chlamydia should also undergo checks for other sexually
transmitted diseases, although chlamydia tests, increasingly using urine
samples, are simpler to administer outside formal clinics.
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- The move in York is part of the expansion of chlamydia
screening, trialled in conventional clinics, into a national programme.
Other experiments are also planned. In Cornwall college students are to
be included in "Pee in a Pot" days, and screening will also be
offered in the workplace, including armed forces bases.
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- The York schools, whose identities have not been widely
publicised, already offer an emergency contraception service as well as
condoms and advice to young people aged 11-18. Ginny Smith, the nurse adviser
for teenage sexual health at the York Health Service NHS trust, said last
night: "Anybody who attends for emergency contraception is at risk
of sexually transmitted infection by definition because they have had unprotected
sex."
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- Screening would however be offered to other pupils, including
boys. At present emergency contraception was not limited to any particular
age but staff would be "concerned" if a very young pupil asked
for it. There would be a full investigation and parents would be told.
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- The Department of Health in England, in its response
yesterday to the Commons committee report, "entirely agrees"
with the MPs' call for testing outside clinics. The committee had praised
a centre at Paignton community college, Devon, but said opposition from
governors had prevented such examples being followed.
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- The Tic Tac project at Paignton involves health professionals
giving confidential advice to pupils. They sometimes offer pregnancy testing
and emergency contraception. The college head, Jane English, said the governors
might consider chlamydia screening too once they saw the outcome of the
York experiment.
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- The government also accepted the committee's demands
that there should no more than 48-hour waits for sexual health checks.
David Hinchliffe, the committee chairman, said: "People are are being
turned away in their hundreds from some clinics.A significant number would
go on and infect other people."
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- © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2003
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- http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,5500,1039583,00.html
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