CPS to test teens for STDs

Program also will educate, treat youths in 6 high schools

With Cook County boasting the dubious distinction of first in the nation in reported cases of gonorrhea -- and second in reported chlamydia cases -- the Chicago Public Schools will begin testing teens, who represent 60 percent of new reports.

Approved by the Board of Education this week, the pilot education, testing and treatment program will be run by the city Department of Public Health in six high schools at no cost to CPS.

"It's a very large problem with teens and adolescents in Chicago, and it's very, very important that they get the information about these sexually transmitted infections," said Christopher Brown, Department of Public Health assistant commissioner.

"Our goal is to get the information out to teens -- about how they're transmitted in particular -- and also that there's treatment available."

The six pilot schools are yet to be determined -- but a criteria is that a school have its own health center, city and schools officials said.

"Testing will occur at the designated school health centers, and the students will receive test results," CPS spokeswoman Monique Bond said. "School health centers will also provide treatment to those students who have been diagnosed."

Participation by the schools and students -- 11th- and 12th-graders are being targeted -- will be voluntary, CPS officials said.

The program, in development for over a year, is based on the most recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics, for 2007, which showed Cook County notched 12,338 reported gonorrhea cases, or 233 per 100,000 population. The county notched 30,881 chlamydia cases, or 583 per 100,000 population -- second only to Los Angeles County.