Welcome to NCC News. This online newsletter was created to keep you up-to-date on all things chlamydia and related areas of interest. We hope you will find it useful and informative. Please feel free to share this with your colleagues who also may find it of use.  

In this installment of the Research Translation Committee's Expert Commentary series, Lizzi Torrone, MSPH, PhD, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention discusses the challenges associated with measuring and analyzing chlamydial re-infection data. Although the calculation of a re-infection rate is mathematically simple, research suggests that the true rate of re-infection is difficult to estimate since most re-infections are asymptomatic and never identified, and trends in rates are continually difficult to interpret. Click here to read more.

Child Trends recently published an Adolescent Health Highlight that presents key research findings about the trends in STD rates among US adolescents, discusses factors that heighten or reduce adolescents' risk of acquiring an STD, and provides information and resources on STD prevention and testing. Adolescents and young adults account for nearly 20 million new STDs diagnosed in the US every year, and they face unique barriers to obtaining STD-related health services.

A new study published in Pediatrics finds that teenage bullies and bully-victims are prone to engage in risky sexual behavior, such as casual sex or sex while drunk or high. (Bully-victims are children who are both bullies and bullied.) In a survey of more than 8,600 high school students, about 6% of respondents admitted to being a bully, and 6% said they were bully-victims. Nine percent said they were victims of bullying. Asked about sexual risk-taking, about one in four teen bullies and nearly one in five bully-victims had engaged in casual sex. By comparison, only 8% of victims and roughly 7% of teens not involved in bullying had had casual sex. Having sex while drunk or high was reported by 34% of bullies and 23% of bully-victims, but only 11% of victims and 12% of teens who had no experience with bullies. The report does not directly address why bullies and bully-victims might engage in risky sexual behaviors.

New Resource on Policy Considerations for Addressing Sexual Health in Schools

Advocates for Youth released a new resource, "Addressing Sexual Health in Schools: Policy Considerations," to guide educators, administrators, and advocates to assess the sexual health policies and practices in their states, school districts, and schools. The document brings together policy, research, and advocacy efforts. It was developed to serve as a resource for schools and community partners to support the implementation of policies addressing sexual health in schools.

The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) has launched a new consumer web portal to help people living with HIV navigate the ACA. The "Obamacare & You" portal is specifically designed to address the needs of people living with HIV. The web portal includes a "Find Your Story" feature that explains how someone with HIV may be affected by the ACA based on their current insurance situation, frequently asked questions about the ACA and how it affects people living with HIV, state-specific information on health coverage options, and other resources and tools. 

According to a new study, initiation and completion rates for the HPV vaccine series are significantly lower in the South than any other geographic region in the US. Researchers examined the association between geographic region and HPV vaccine uptake and completion rates among women ages 18-26 in 12 states representing four distinct regions. When examined by region HPV vaccine initiation and completion rates were 37.2% and 23.1% in the Northeast; 28.7% and 19.3% in the Midwest/West; and 14% and 6% in the South. The new findings are of importance because cervical cancer is also more prevalent in the South than in any other region.