THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

HOUSE RESOLUTION

INTRODUCED BY PARKER, GIBBONS, BRENNAN, BRIGGS, BUXTON, CALTAGIRONE, D. COSTA, DONATUCCI, FRANKEL, HESS, MYERS, READSHAW, ROEBUCK, ROSS, SAINATO, SIPTROTH, STABACK AND STERN, JANUARY 11, 2010

INTRODUCED AS NONCONTROVERSIAL RESOLUTION UNDER RULE 35, JANUARY 11, 2010  

A RESOLUTION

Designating February 11, 2010, as "Chlamydia Awareness Day" in

Pennsylvania.

WHEREAS, Chlamydia is the most frequently reported bacterial

sexually transmitted disease in the United States; and

WHEREAS, Approximately 1.1 million cases of chlamydia were

reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

during 2007; and

WHEREAS, Chlamydia is known as a silent disease because 75%

of women who are infected have no symptoms; and

WHEREAS, Chlamydia is five times as common as gonorrhea and

more than 30 times as common as syphilis; and

WHEREAS, More than half the reported cases of chlamydia in

2007 occurred in females 15 to 25 years of age; and

WHEREAS, One in four adolescent girls has a sexually

transmitted disease and one in 20 sexually active adolescent

girls has chlamydia; and

WHEREAS, The chlamydia rate among female adolescents is six

times higher than the national average for all women; and

WHEREAS, The rate of chlamydia among African-American females

15 to 24 years of age is eight times higher than for females who

are Caucasian; and

WHEREAS, If chlamydia is not treated, it can cause pelvic

inflammatory disease (PID) in up to four out of ten infected

women; and

WHEREAS, Testing and treatment for chlamydia significantly

reduces the risk for PID and other complications in women;

therefore be it

RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives designate

February 11, 2010, as "Chlamydia Awareness Day" in Pennsylvania

and call upon its citizens to observe this day by participating

in appropriate activities to bring attention to the need for

screening and treatment of chlamydia.