1989 was nine, she said, but this does not

1989 was nine, she said, but this does not count the number of HIV infection cases that have been tested. These were not reportable until July of 1989.

“We really have to focus on the prevention of STDs with pregnancy,” Mrs. Facchina said. She said there had been cases in which chlamydia had been found in pregnant women. “We treat them and they’re reinfected, even though their partners have been treated,” she said. “Untreated chlamydia can cause respiratory problems in babies, and chlamydia is the most common STD in the United States, with three million cases.”

She said that the Rappahannock Health Department does not have a STD clinic. There is one in Culpeper each Tuesday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. If a Rappahannock resident was found to have a STD at one of those clinics, the local Health Department would not be notified unless these was a need for followup treatment or unless there was a need to inform a contact in Rappahannock.

“Contact investigations are completely confidential,” Mrs. Facchina said, offering assurance to those who might fear the result of a Health Department visit. “We never give the name of the person who named them as a contact. We test them, and if they test positive they become a case. We tell them it’s not fair if you have exposed somebody and they don’t know it. Sometimes they don’t have a name for a contact and we investigate from a description. A lot of time we don’t have people come to us; we go to them. It’s not only important to be treated. We try to educate them.”

Most of the time it is the males who come into the STD clinics because they are more likely to have the symptoms, Mrs. Facchina said, “but a lot of STDs may go undetected because the person may have few or no symptoms yet still spread the disease.”

That is particularly dangerous.