African-American College Freshmen at High Risk for Chlamydia

A study by researchers at Emory University has found that college freshmen are 70 percent more likely to have the sexually transmitted disease chlamydia than older college students. More than 80 percent of the students in the study conducted on 10 college campuses in the South were African Americans. The study found that nearly one out of every seven college freshmen had contracted the disease.

Chlamydia is asymptomatic in 80 percent of women but can lead to serious consequences such as infertility and ectopic pregnancies. Therefore, the authors of the study recommended on-campus education and chlamydia screening programs for college freshmen.

Copyright © 2006. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.