Welcome to Bell County: Chlamydia Capitol of Texas

By Alex Wukman

First published here

It’s no secret Bell County has a problem with sexually transmitted diseases.

In 2012 the county was No. 1 in the state for per-capita gonorrhea and chlamydia infections, in the top 20 for per-capita syphilis infections and in the top 25 for total HIV/AIDs infections, according to figures from the Texas Department of State Health Services.

The sheer number of gonorrhea and chlamydia infections, 3,968 and 1,126 respectively, puts Bell County’s STD outbreaks in the company of counties such as Harris, Dallas, Bexar, El Paso and Travis. Bell County’s smaller population moves it to the top of the list when it comes to the rate of infection.

With 1.7 percent of Bell County’s 323,000 residents testing positive for STDs, concerns have been raised about the lingering government shutdown’s impact on patients’ access to programs. While the shutdown currently hasn’t caused any difficulty in treating patients, health care providers are still concerned.

“This is so iffy. It’s never gone on this long before,” said Bonnie Scurzi, director of the Bell County Public Health District. “If this goes on longer we’re going to have to start looking in our own agencies and asking, ‘What are we going to do, who are going to furlough?’”

Bell County’s family planning and the Special Supplemental Program for Women, Infants and Children are still fully funded through the end of the month, but the agency is “thinking about contingency plans” for the future Scurzi said.

Because of the large population testing positive for STDs — nearly 6,000 people — the Bell County Public Health District recently sought, and received, federal funds to expand clinic hours. The funds to pay for the increased clinic hours are not affected by the shutdown and that the expanded hours would remain in place for the foreseeable future, Scurzi said.

“We haven’t felt the crunch yet,” Janet Cates, program manager for Central Texas Support Services, said, noting programs will go through the end of the month but then there would be questions.

Cates said that her agency, which provides confidential AIDS and STD screenings and works to place an average of 100 patients a month in programs such as the AIDS Drug Assistance Program and Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS, has received its allotment from the Texas Department of State Health Services.

“People are still getting their drugs,” Cates said. “People aren’t at risk of not getting their rent.”

Chris Van Deusen, Texas Department of State Health Services press officer, said the shutdown has not impacted the agency’s ability to assist in the purchase of HIV/AIDS medications or to provide HIV and STD testing.

Aaron Montemayor, director of the Greater Fort Hood United Way, which oversees the enrollment of HIV/AIDS patients in state programs in Bell County, said that because of the funding cycle for federal Health and Human Services grants, local programs are not in danger.

Montemayor explained that United Way functions as a grant administrator by receiving reimbursement funds from agencies such as the Department of State Health Services and the Central Texas Council of Governments before passing them on to service providers.

“We float the grants until we get reimbursed,” Montemayor said. The impact to the local services will come if the federal government decides to modify or alter the terms of the reimbursement contracts, he said.

While the services and treatment being provided to HIV/AIDS and STD patients are not in danger, some of the providers themselves are bewildered by the proliferation of STDs in the area.

“It may be the Bible belt out here, but the buckle is undone,” Cates said. “A lot of these young girls have a thing for the military and they think that if he’s in the military he gets tested all the time, that’s just not the case.”

Scurzi said that the high percentage of STD positive individuals in the area may be able to be attributed to the transient nature of the population.

Montemayor said part of the problem is clusters of infected individuals who are highly active. “Years ago you could watch the spread of syphilis and almost see an individual person’s movements,” he said. For Cates, one of the problems of trying to combat spread of STDs is lax reporting standards among private practice physicians.

“Collecting the data you need to really paint a picture, to put a face on it, is really difficult,” Cates said. “Private physicians don’t always report the diseases. So chlamydia and gonorrhea could be absolutely out of control.”