Women in Berwyn, Cicero and surrounding Chicago suburbs should note that despite the aggressive promotion of condoms to prevent sexually transmitted diseases, the threat of STDs is still serious, especially among women and minorities.

In a January report, the CDC said that cases of chlamydia and gonorrhea in the United States exceeded 1.4 million in 2007. These diseases continue to be the most commonly reported infectious diseases in the nation, posing “persistent and preventable threats to fertility” in the United States, the report said.

“The widespread occurrence of these diseases should serve as a stark reminder that STDs remain a serious health threat in the United States,” said John M. Douglas, Jr., M.D., director of CDC’s Division of STD Prevention. “Left untreated, chlamydia and gonorrhea can cause infertility, affecting a woman’s chance to bear children later in life.”

In addition, syphilis, once on the verge of elimination, began re-emerging as a threat in 2001 and increased 15.2 percent between 2006 and 2007, according to the report.

Experts recommend a comprehensive approach to STD prevention through screening, treatment, and behavioral interventions. One approach to preventing such diseases has been to promote abstinence, the focus of many sex education programs in public schools.

Not having sexual relations is obviously the best way to avoid STDs. The CDC reported last year that many teens having sex do not use birth control of any kind. And the former head of the National Center for Infectious Diseases at the CDC, Dr. Harold Jaffe, said, “You just can’t tell people it’s all right to do whatever you want as long as you wear a condom. It [AIDS] is just too dangerous a disease to say that.”