Yakima County has the highest chlamydia rate in Washington

Some counties in the U.S. conduct an annual health surveillance in order to identify areas of concern and address methods that may help lower the prevalence of frequently diagnosed conditions.

Yakima County in Washington state is one of these areas, and health officials from the region have acknowledged the county's high rate of chlamydia.

According to an article published by KAPP-TV, Yakima County was ranked first for the second year in a row in terms of the percentage of residents who have chlamydia.

Some health experts told the news source that although the region was not shown to have a high prevalence of gonorrhea or herpes, the chlamydia statistics indicate that many individuals have engaged in unprotected sex.

"When you look at [the chlamydia rate] in conjunction with teen pregnancy rates, that definitely confirms that we might have good reporting, but it's also that there is a lot of high risk sexual behavior going on in the county," said Laura Charters of the Yakima Health District, quoted by the news source.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that about 2.8 million Americans contact a chlamydia infection each year.