Infertility

The disease can be cured with a one-time injection or a single dose of an oral antibiotic.

In general, rates of sexually transmitted diseases are higher among young people because they are more likely to have multiple partners and forgo protection.

How cases of STDs are reported could also play a role in the higher rates among teenagers and minorities, as people from both groups are more likely to be treated at public clinics, which are in turn more likely to report cases to state and county health departments.

In addition, Barry said, rates tend to be higher among African Americans than other ethnic groups in part because the black community is relatively small and people usually choose their sexual partners based on similarities in race and age.

In other words, if one person in a social network among teenagers gets a disease like gonorrhea, it can spread rapidly through the rest of the group, said Gay Calhoun, director of STD education and prevention for the Alameda County Public Health Department.

"People group together and hang out with the same people.

You have that one person in the middle who's infected, and it spreads out," Calhoun said.

On the upside, she said, "If we can get one person in that group to be the one to start testing, everyone else will start doing it, too." San Francisco and Alameda County both have gonorrhea rates that are higher ...

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