By Alabama Public Radio
Montgomery, AL – Officials say the prevalence of the sexually transmitted disease was actually on the rise. Maxie Fleming directs the Alabama Department of Public Health's S-T-D Division. She says a new chlamydia test recently instituted statewide has already revealed a 50 percent rise over past figures. Fleming says the state's increased chlamydia rates is on par with the rest of the country. Alabama is the last state to use a urine-based test, which is more sensitive to the disease than swab tests the state used before.