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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (March 24, 1960)
Reluctance to Discuss 'Social Diseases' Worries Authorities Portland - A carry-over of the Victorian age, reluctance to discuss "social diseases," has Oregon health authorities worried. Dr. Richard H. Wilcox, state health officer, said this week that state health officials are "very concerned" about a 70 per cent increase in Oregon venereal disease case reports since 1955. They are even more wor ried, he admitted, by an al leged failure of many people to face up to the fact that "venereal disease cases come from virtually all socio-economic levels, and the problem is thus one which the com munity as a whole must frank ly recognize before it can be defeated". Total Higher The health officer pointed out that 224 Oregon young sters under the age of 20 - 11 of them not yet 15 years old -were reported as venereal disease victims last year alone. Another 261 had not yet reached the age of 25. What alarms the public health authorities most is that last year's VD total among the children and young adults was three times higher than the number reported in 1955. Most of the increase is in gonorrhea, scorned by many people as a defeated disease shortly after penicillin came into widespread use about the end of World War II, . This popular belief, Dr. Wil cox said, seemed to be borne out by State Board of Health statistics for 11 years. Oregon VD reports declined steadily from an all-time high of 5,315 cases in 1944 to 1,085 in 1955. Since then, however, the trend has been reversed. In cidence rose slightly to 1,092 cases the following year, jumped to 1,209 in 1957, in creased almost a quarter to 1,636 in 1958, and reached 1,777 cases last year. The 1959 total was highest in Oregon since 1948, Dr. Wil cox said. Case-Finding Projects Part of the increase, he ad mitted, "probably" can be at tributed to intensified case finding projects launched by state and local health depart ments because of their belief that some of the 11-year de cline was artificial. It was indicated that such artificial declines could result from lack of case reports from physicians, or from failure of victims to seek treatment, or both. A large part of the increase, however, is real, according to the health officer. Three rea sons are given: promiscuity, failure of vicitms to obtain prompt treatment before pass ing their disease on to others, to continue treatment , until cured. Another facet of the prob lem which has given an un easy feeling to health authori ties is the possibility that penicillin may be losing its effectiveness in controlling gonorrhea. - Although Dr Wilcox said there is no proof yet this has happened in Oregon, health officials throughout the world have indicated some gonor rhea organisms may be de veloping resistance because of the widespread use of peni cillin for other diseases. Could Develop Resistance If gonorrhea germs were in the body, and survived the on slaught of inadequate dosages of penicillin, they could de velop such resistance. This has happened already to some other germs, such as certain strains of staphylococcus, Dr. Wilcox said. About 90 per cent of the Oregon gonorrhea cases last year were persons under 40 years of age. Cases are usually found by one of four methods: the vic tim may go to a private physi cian for a routine check-up or because he suspects VD; he may be located as a result of health department follow-up of a known case; he may be found to have VD during a routine institutional admission examination; or the case may be detected as a result of Ore gon's premarital or prenatal blood test program. Budget Limited The State Board of Health budget is too limited to per mit employment of venereal disease investigators, but Dr. Wilcox said the state "for tunately" has been able to ob tain the loan of two of these specialists from the U.S. pub lic Health Service. ifc : if r ; J& A BEASTLY BORE Perhaps it is just a beastly bore so the photographer caught just that as the inhabitants of the lion colony at Fleishacker Zoo in San Francisco enjoy the spring weather. With nothing to do but look attractive, these lions felt a bit social, with their winter manners showing. UPI Telephoto) ' iotZi"!!'!' Ll" "rjir : '" " i 'CUBS' ON THE JOB Two "cub" reporters prepare a sting ing editorial in the game department office at Seattle. The cubs were found in a hollow tree by loggers near Shelton, Wash., and were turned over to the Woodland Park Zoo. The clubs' complaints seemed to be satisfied after a warm meaL (UPI Telephoto) Venereal Disease Rates Said Rising Among Teen-Agers MAIL TRIBUNE, Medford, Or. B Thursday, March 24, I960 Washington -UPD- Venereal disease rates are rising among America's teen-age children. That ominous report comes from the American Social Health association, ' leading private organization in the fight against VD. Contrary to widespread popular impression, the as sociation says, VD has not been "brought under control." It still is an extremely seri ous health problem, especially among young people. During 1958, the most re cent year for which detailed figures are available, the num ber of syphilis and gonorrhea cases reported among children 10 to 14 years old rose 14 per cent. There was a rise of 11 per cent in VD cases re ported among young people in the 15 to 19 age group. Incidence Rising Spot checks indicate that VD incidence still is rising in both age groups, officials said. They estimated that about 1,000,000 cases of gonorrhea and 60,000 new cases of syphi lis occur in the United States each year. Only one-fourth of these are officially reported to health authorities. Many cases go untreated and the disappearance of su perficial symptoms deludes victims into thinking they have recovered. Actually, the disease may have entered a dangerous "latent" stage, from which it will emerge years later with crippling physical and mental deterioration. Penicillin therapy is highly effective in treatment of vene real disease - provided the case is brought to medical at tention during its early, conta gious stage. T. L. Richman, associate ex ecutive director of the asso ciation, said the rise in VD among teen-agers is associated with "increasingly casual sex relationships." The trend toward greater sexual promiscuity also is re flected in a sharply rising number of illegitimate births, he noted. Found in All Groups Promiscuity and its attend ant hazards of venereal dis ease and illegitimacy are found in all social and eco nomic groups. But the prob lem is most severe in areas which also have the highest rates of juvenile crime -namely,, the overcrowded city slums where young peo ple grow up with a minimum of family guidance and a maximum of temptation. The association believes the problem must be tackled at its roots, through strengthened church and community serv ices to young people, better sex education programs in schools, and other long-term effort, to relieve the "social maladjustment" which breeds delinquency. In the meantime, the asso- PREWRED BY OREGON STATE SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION f HE UNIVERSITY OF OREGON MEDICAL SCHOOL EXTENDS PATIENT-SERVICE STATE WIDE. 0 I CAPPisqh) HE SCHOOL'S CRIPPLED CHILDREN'S DIVISION IS ONE OF ' OREGON'S FINEST DIAGNOSTIC AND TREATMENT SERVICES. ciation urges a vigorous re vival of the "fight VD" cam paign which brought a sharp decline in syphilis and gonor rhea cases during and imme diately after World War II. It is particularly distressed by the Eisenhower administra tion's recommendation to Cox gress that funds for the na tional venereal disease cor trol program be reduced front $5,400,000 to $4,700,000 year. 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