Over 500 students have participated in a special testing program for chlamydia, a sexually-transmitted disease.

The testing is free through the Chlamydia Screening Education and Treatment project, a 30-month project that will run through May 2002.

Sacramento County has one of the highest rates of infection for the disease, and the Sacramento State Health Center received a $510,000 grant to study, treat and educate students about chlamydia.

“As much as 75 to 85 percent of women who have the disease do not have symptoms, but, if left untreated, the disease leads to infertility later in life,” said Health Center Director Laurie Bisset Grady. “People can have the disease for years without knowing it.”

Bisset Grady attributed this partly to a lack of publicity and general knowledge. While people are very familiar with such STDs as HIV, they do not know as much about chlamydia, she said.

However, the program has been well received, said Bisset Grady. As of Friday, she said that 517 people had been tested, and 3 percent, or approximately 15 people, had tested positive for the disease.

If a student?s test is negative, no further action is taken. Those who do test positive are notified through a confidential telephone call. They are then asked to return to the site where they took the test to receive treatment.

“The treatment is free and is just one dose of four pills,” Bisset Grady said. The program rotates among Sac State, Sacramento City College, Cosumnes River College and American River Community College, spending at least two days a week on each campus.

In order to maintain privacy, the testing site is a plain folding table that moves to various sites on campus.

“We chat with the students, get their history and give them a cup in a small paper bag,” Bisset Grady said.

The students are then directed to the nearest bathroom, after which they return to the table and leave the bag with the person they talked to.

“It takes about 10 to 12 minutes, on average,” Bisset Grady said.

In addition, Bisset Grady is looking to expand her current staff. “We currently have six student staff members on the project, and I am planning on doubling, or maybe tripling that number next semester,” she said.

Information on job opportunities and the testing schedule can be found on the Web at http://www.csus.edu/hlth/CSET. The exact location of the daily testing site may be obtained by calling 278-5422.

“The test is free, so why not tend to your health?” Bisset Grady said.