Chlamydia more frequent in Norwegian north
In the northern Norwegian counties of Troms and Finnmark the number of Chlamydia infections is far higher than in neigbouring Murmansk Oblast, according to the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.
The figure is also twice as frequent as in the rest of Norway
The sexually transmittable disease Chlamydia is a growing problem for Norwegians, and especially in the northern part of the country. Numbers presented by the Norwegian Institute for Public Health show that there were 804 registered Chlamydia infections for every 100 000 inhabitants in Troms county. In Finnmark county the number is 814 infections. The average for Norway is 455 infected cases for every 100 000 inhabitants. In comparison the number for Murmansk Oblast was 351 infected Chlamydia cases for every 100 000 inhabitants in 2005, figures from Epinorth.org show.
Professor in micro biology at the University Hospital in Northern Norway, Tore Gutteberg, says to newspaper Nordlys that there is no easy explanation for the high numbers in Troms and Finnmark. He thinks that there are complex explanations to the variations between the Norwegian counties.
The statistics show that the overall number of Chlamydia infections is rising in both Norway and Sweden.
