In the News

From Kids These Days!
Mail-order STD Testing & POWER Teen Clinic
Submitted by KTD, Producer Sarah Gonzales, on October 5, 2011

Whether or not teens make the choice to engage in safe sexual relationships, there is always the risk of contracting a sexually transmitted disease after intercourse.  Getting tested and treated for a STD can be as easy as visiting a local public health clinic, but what if you're too shy to be seen in person, live in an area not served by a local clinic or simply can't get a ride?

Johns Hopkins University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention introduced a mail-order STD test kit in 2004 on the east coast to much success among teens and young people.  Now this same program has come to Alaska.  You can order a kit at IWantTheKit.org, and visit IKnowMine.org to learn more about sexual health, testing and resources in Alaska.

Listen as KTD Producer Sarah Gonzales interviews Dr. Charlotte Gaydos.  The story is now posted on their website and the audio can be accessed directly from a link on the page.

From KTVA CBS 11 News
STD Testing Now Can Be Done at Home
By Bill McAllister - August 2, 2011

Health officials say part of the reason for Alaska's extremely high rates of sexually transmitted diseases might be that not enough people get tested for them.

Now there's a way Alaskans can get tested for STDs in the privacy of their homes....

Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore started the 'I Want the Kit' program in 2004.

It's now being offerered in Alaska through a federal grant from the Indian Health Service.
Read more.

From Alaska Business Monthly
Free at-Home STD Testing Kits Now Available to Alaskans
August 2011

Alaska News
Alaska had the highest chlamydia rate in the country in 2010, and the second highest rate of gonorrhea.  Alaska  has consistently had the first or second highest rates of chlamydia since 2000.  The "I Want the Kit" at-home testing (IWTK) service is arriving to help reduce those numbers.

Each home test kit comes in an anonymous envelope with instructions, a unique identification number, and a prepaid return envelope to return self-collected vaginal, penile or rectal swabs in specially sealed test tubes to the IWTK lab at Johns Hopkins University.  The lab tests the swabs for chlamydia, gonorrhea and trichomonas.  The kits are provided through a partnership between the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC), the Indian Health Service (IHS), and Johns Hopkins University.  They are available for anyone residing in Alaska.
Read more.

From Reuters.com
Take-home chlamydia tests tied to more screening
By Genevra Pittman - July 22, 2011

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women at risk for chlamydia infections are more likely to get tested if they can do it at home instead of going to a clinic, suggests new research.

The study participants had all previously tested positive for chlamydia and were treated for the sexually-transmitted disease.  But guidelines recommend women get tested again, three months after treatment, because it's easy to re-catch the infection from a partner who hasn't been treated.

"Once you've had an infection, that puts you at increased risk for having another infection," said Charlotte Gaydos, who studies STDs and testing at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.

But, she told Reuters Health, "It's a very hard thing for clinicians, once they've treated women for an infection, to get them to come back in" for retesting.
Read more.

From WebMD
STD Trichomonas May Be More Common Than Thought
By Kathleen Doheny
WebMD Health News

July 12, 2011 -- A sexually transmitted infection known as Trichomonas vaginalis is more common than experts believe, especially in older women, according to a new study.

Most likely to be infected were women 45 and older.  "Women, when they go for their yearly checkups, should ask their doctors to screen for this organism," says researcher Charlotte Gaydos, DrPH, professor of medicine and an infectious disease specialist at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

She says screening should be routine for all sexually active women, whatever their age.  She says cases of the disease should also be reportable to public health authorities, just like other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) such as gonorrhea and chlamydia.

Gaydos presented the study at the International Society of STD Research meeting in Quebec City, Canada.
Read more.

From Bloomberg
Sex Parasite is Most Common in Women Older Than 40, Study Finds
By Elizabeth Lopatto - July 12, 2011

A sex disease that's more prevalent than gonorrhea and chlamydia, and less well-known, is suffered by 13 percent of women aged 50 and older, a study found.

The sexually transmitted parasite Trichomonas vaginalis causes urogenital infection, and can raise susceptibility to HIV.  A study, reported at the International Society for STD Research in Quebec City, found the infection is twice as prevalent in those over 40 than in younger women because it isn't adequately screened for.  Women in their 40s had an 11 percent infection rate, according to the data.

Most STDs are more common in young people, said the study's senior author, Charlotte Gaydos, a professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Read more.

From Picture of Health, The Baltimore Sun
STD trich twice as common in older women
Posted by Andrea Walker - July 12, 2011

Johns Hopkins researchers are finding an unusually high case of the sexually transmitted parasite Trichomonas vaginalis in older women.

The findings are so large that one of the researchers is calling for all sexually active women older than age 40 to get tested for the parasite.  The research found that the STD is more than twice as common in this age group than previously thought.

Screening is especially important because in many cases there are no symptoms.

"We usually think of STDs as more prevalent in young people, but our study results clearly show that with trichomonas, while too many young people have it, even more older women are infected," senior study investigator Charlotte Gaydos, said in a statement.
Read more.

The International Union against Sexually Transmitted Diseases (IUSTI)

The International Union against Sexually Transmitted Infections (IUSTI) was founded in 1923 and it is organized on both a global and regional basis.  It is the oldest international organization with the objective of fostering international cooperation in the control of sexually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS.  IUSTI is concerned with the medical, scientific, social and epidemiological aspects of sexually transmitted infections and their control.  IUSTI is on the Roster of the United Nations Economic and Social Council.  It is an Official Non-Government Organization in Consultative Status with the World Health Organization.  IUSTI organizes frequent international and regional conferences on sexually transmitted infections and, in collaboration with the International Journal for STD and AIDS, publishes expert  clinical guidelines for their management.
Dr. Charlotte Gaydos is Regional Director for IUSTI-North America.

►► NEW ►► The July 2011 newsletter for IUSTI-North America is available here in pdf format.

The September 2010 newsletter for IUSTI-North America is available here in pdf format.

The March 2010 newsletter for IUSTI-North America is available here in pdf format.

The October 2009 newsletter for IUSTI-North America is available here in pdf format.

The May 2009 newsletter for IUSTI-North America is available here in pdf format.

From Cincinnati.com
Rate of sexually transmitted diseases high in region
By Peggy O'Farrell - June 20, 2011

At Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, doctors and nurses are using text messages to notify teens who test positive for STDs to get treatment and bring their partners in, said Jill Huppert, a pediatric and adolescent gynecologist.
Read more.

From b free daily, The Baltimore Sun
Take-home tests
Posted 02/22/2011

Up to half of sexually active young people will get a sexually transmitted disease by age 25, yet many don't seek testing because it may be hard, costly or embarrassing.

Public health officials nationally and in particularly affected cities such as Baltimore, however, say they've found a method that seems to address the major hurdles - a website that supplies free in-home testing kits for three of the most commonly reported STDs: gonorrhea, chlamydia and trichomoniasis.

"The highest prevalence is in young adults, and we knew we had to reach these kids," said Charlotte A. Gaydos, a professor of infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins University.
Read more.

From The Baltimore Sun
Free in-home kits help encourage STD testing in young people
By Meredith Cohn - February 21, 2011

Up to half of sexually active young people will get a sexually transmitted disease by the time they are 25, yet many don't seek testing because it may be difficult, costly or embarrassing.

Public health officials nathionally and in particularly affected cities like Baltimore, however, say they've found a method that seems to address the major hurdles - a website that supplies free in-home testing kits for three of the most commonly reported STDs.

"The highest prevalence is in young adults, and we knew we had to reach these kids," said Charlotte A. Gaydos, a professor of infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. 
Read more.

From The Forum for Collaborative HIV Research
Experts Attending 2010 National Summit on HIV Warn of Need to Identify/Treat Americans with Undiagnosed HIV; Call for Accelerated HIV Testing

WASHINGTON, DC (December 1, 2010) - As the nation observes World AIDS Day, the consensus reached by nearly 400 HIV/AIDS experts taking part in the just completed 2010 National Summit on HIV Diagnosis, Prevention and Access to Care provides this stern warning to the country's policymakers:  unless more is done to identify and provide immediate care for the more than 200,000 Americans whose HIV is undiagnosed and the even more who are untreated, disparities in HIV care will only increase in the years ahead.....

• New data from Dr. Charlotte Gaydos from Johns Hopkins University on the acceptability of self-testing using oral rapid HIV screens for patients waiting in hospital emergency rooms showed that 96.5% of the patients studied were receptive to self-testing and the test results were as reliable as those performed by medical staff.

Read the statement in its entirety here.

From ADVANCE for Medical Laboratory Professionals
e-Newsletter sent 08/03/2010
Diagnostic Testing for STIs and Vaginitis
Attention to patient privacy and the need for expedient results are key.
By Jill Hoffman

Time is of the essence when it comes to diagnosing sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and vaginitis; an earlier diagnosis could prevent spread.  But for the person facing a possible positive result, it may be embarrassing and fear-inducing to think about others in the community finding out.

Even if the person musters the courage to go to a health clinic for testing, he or she may never return to get the results.  That decision could have serious consequences for the infected individual and for society at large.

Going head to head with the stigma around STIs is one professor and researcher offering people a private, online way to get free testing for Chlamydia, gonorrhea and trichomoniasis.  Charlotte Gaydos, DrPH, MPH, professor, Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, created Iwantthekit.org in 2004 with colleagues.
Read more.

From Molecular Matters (an e-newsletter from Abbott Molecular)
Issue 1, June 2010
Dr. Charlotte Gaydos: On the Front Line in the Global Fight to Control STDs

"Over the last 25 years, we have witnessed step-change scientific advancements in the detection and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, namely chlamydia and gonorrhea, yet there is much more that can and must be done to raise the success bar in our global mission to control these unfortunately all too common infectious disease conditions in women and men."

Such is the candid assessment of Charlotte A. Gaydos, DrPH, MPH, MS Professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and an internationally known pioneer and authority in infectious disease research and  medical and laboratory technology.
Read more.

From The National Chlamydia Coalition Newsletter
Issue 13: May 28, 2010
NCC Research Committee

The National Chlamydia Coalition is happy to announce that a fourth committee has been added to the coalition. The goal of the research committee is to synthesize, summarize and disseminate ongoing and published research for the use of NCC members in order to facilitate reducing the rates of chlamydia and its harmful effects among sexually active adolescents and young adults in the United States.

The research committee is chaired by Charlotte Gaydos, Regional Director of the North American Region of the International Union against Sexually Transmitted Infections (IUSTI) and currently has 16 active members.
Read more.

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