by Glen Korstrom
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jan 16/98) - Public health nurse manager Karen Leidl takes a break from seeing patients and sits in her corner office, ready to describe an increasing Yellowknife concern: sexually transmitted diseases.

"Our most common diseases are gonorrhoea and chlamydia," says the 15-year veteran, who moved to Yellowknife in December. "Some people think it couldn't happen to them -- certainly teenagers."

Dr. Andre Corriveau, the NWT chief medical officer, says cases of STDs are 11 times higher in the NWT than down south but that is partly because of better tracking and reporting up here.

"Cases are truly higher up here but not 11 times higher -- more like six or seven times higher, I would have to guess."

And more Yellowknifers are getting infected than ever before.

Up to Oct. 1 in 1996, there were 566 cases. In the same time period in 1997 the centre recorded 844.

Identifiable by painful urination, uncomfortable intercourse and thick green discharges, the two diseases tower above crabs, herpes and HIV in frequency and have prompted Leidl to encourage condom use.

As a last resort for people who cannot afford or feel embarrassed buying contraceptives, she says condoms are available in public health-centre washrooms.

"Nothing is a 100 per cent guarantee except abstinence. And that's obviously not going to work, especially for teenagers."

About one third of carriers show no symptoms even though in women, failure to catch the disease early may make pregnancy difficult.

Because the diseases are highly contagious, public health nurses do tracing. That means affected people are asked to list sexual partners going back six months.

The centre then calls them to alert past partners.

"We would never make it public," Leidl says. "If we called a workplace it would just be 'call Karen' and my number."