Chlamydia cases rise on the SUNY Oswego campus

Oswego — Chlamydia cases have increased on the SUNY Oswego campus in the past two years, campus health officials said this week. This year there has been 35 students that have tested positive for chlamydia compared to the 25 that tested positive last year.  Liz Burns, the Director of the Mary Walker Health Center says, “What we know is that kids aren’t using condoms and they can pass the disease to their partners unknowingly.”

The Mary Walker Health center offered free testing to students April 7, 8, and 9 from 10 a.m to 3p.m.

Burns also says more than 45 students came in for free testing and only 14 came last year during the testing times.

The increase in chlamydia cases have also been in the county of Oswego.

Diane Oldenburg, Senior Public Health Educator, says the increase has been steady since 2009. There were only 126 cases of chlamydia in 2009 and in 2014 there was 467 cases.

Oldenburg also says that 75 percent of women and 50 percent of men don’t show symptoms of having the disease.  This can lead to sterility in men and women if it is left untreated.

Chlamydia is easily treated by an antibiotic and can be perscribed by your health care provider.