Researchers on Thursday reported that although the percentage of young sexually active U.S. women ages 16-25 screened for Chlamydia increased from 25 % to 43 % during 2000-2006, fewer than half of the women were being screened.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Weekly Report also said that the number of women screened for the sexually transmitted disease of Chlamydia declined slightly in 2007 to 41.6%.

The Northeast at 45.5 % had the highest Chlamydia screening in 2007 while the South at 37.3% had the lowest. In 2007 among the states Hawaii had the highest screening rate at 57.8% and Utah the lowest at 20.8 %. 

Dr. Karen Hoover of the CDC and colleagues looked at the records of public and private health plans representing more than 40 % of the U.S. population for the study. "Chlamydia trachomatis infection is the most common bacterial sexually transmitted disease (STD) in the United States, with more than 2.8 million new cases estimated to occur each year," they wrote.

"During 2007, approximately 1.1 million cases of Chlamydia were reported to CDC; more than half of these were in females aged 15 to 25 years."

Chlamydia is a common sexually transmitted disease that often causes few symptoms and if not treated with antibiotics can cause pelvic inflammatory disease, infertility, chronic pain and ectopic pregnancy, that can kill the mother or the baby.

Both men and women can be infected with Chlamydia and it can make men sterile too though rarely. If only one partner is treated can re-infect the other and Chlamydia can be passed on to a newborn and can cause pneumonia and conjunctivitis, or pink eye.

CDC recommendations are that all sexually active women 25 or younger, older women who have a new sex partner or multiple sex partners, and all pregnant women should be checked yearly for Chlamydia.

The report said, "The findings demonstrate that despite increases in the first half of the decade, Chlamydia screening rates remain substantially lower than other critical women's health services, such as Pap tests."

"Further monitoring is needed to determine whether the decreased screening rate in 2007 represents a trend or is due to increases in the number of plans reporting screening data that year. Low Chlamydia screening rates are particularly concerning due to the severe health consequences that can result from untreated Chlamydia -- pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy and infertility."

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