New Mexico counties experience increase in rates of STD infection

Curry County and Roosevelt County in New Mexico are both reporting case totals numbering above the state average for sexually transmitted disease (STD) infection among young people. The New Mexico Department of Health has expressed considerable concern regarding this development, according to the Clovis News Journal.

Diseases being prominently reported in these counties include chlamydia and gonorrhea, among others. Curry County had the third-highest rate of gonorrhea infection among the state's counties in 2010, while Curry and Roosevelt, respectively, reported the fifth and sixth highest rates of chlamydia infection in New Mexico, the news source reports.

In the town of Portales, Roosevelt County's seat, managing nurse Carol Morgan of the Portales Public Health Office estimated that approximately one in every four people under the age of 25 was afflicted with chlamydia. She emphasized the importance of educating parents about STDs, stating that teens could not effectively learn STD dangers without adult help.

"Sex is in every part of young people's culture, their music, their television. They're taking chances with things they don't understand," Morgan told the news source.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, gonorrhea is the second most common bacterial STD in the U.S., and chlamydia is the most commonly reported infectious disease of any kind.