A Madison lung cancer expert will be featured on a nationaltelevision health show Thursday.

Regina Vidaver, executive director of the National Lung CancerPartnership, based in Madison, was in New York City last month fora taping of “The Dr. Oz Show,” which airs weekdays from 2 to 3 p.m.on WISC-TV (Ch. 3).

Vidaver discussed how anybody can get lung cancer, whetherthey’ve smoked or not. 

“One of the messages was that lung cancer can occur in anyone,”she said. “The highest risk obviously are people with a significantsmoking history, but people who have already quit smoking remain atrisk for 20 years or more.”

Her segment was about 10 to 15 minutes and she was on with Dr.Otis Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society,and two survivors, Vidaver said.

Lung cancer is the no. 1 cause of cancer deaths in the UnitedStates, killing more people than breast, prostate and colon cancercombined, with cigarette smoking causing 87 percent of lung cancerdeaths, according to the National Institutes of Health. 

Vidaver, who has a Ph.D. in molecular biology from theUW-Madison, was asked about some of the other causes of lung cancerbesides smoking, and talked about secondhand smoke and radonexposure. “And that a genetic predisposition is also unfortunatelyone of the bigger risk factors,” she said.

“We also talked about the different symptoms, particularly acough that won’t go away, if you cough up blood and unexplainedpain in the chest or shoulders,” Vidaver said.

Vidaver has been the group’s executive director since 2004.

PROVO — the rate of chlamydia is increasing inUtah County along with the rest of the state.

After a 25 percent increase in cases in Uintah, Duchesne andDaggett counties, which are east of Utah County, the state healthdepartment joined with these counties to educate people on thesexually transmitted infection. but these same patterns, althoughless drastic, are happening here as well.

Lance Madigan, spokesman for the Utah County Health Department,said the numbers this year indicate about 700 or more cases by Dec.31, compared to 623 cases in 2009, 485 in 2008 and 442 in 2007. Allcases must be reported to the health department.

Statistics from the Utah Department of Health show that the rateof chlamydia has been increasing statewide since 2000; it isparallel to, though far behind, the national rates. Utah Countyalso had the lowest rate of chlamydia in the state according to the2008 numbers.

Madigan couldn’t point to one specific factor in the continuingincline, however. part of it is increased awareness and moredoctors doing the testing. part of it is an improved test from afew years ago. part of it is the health department’s policy to askfor an infected person’s sexual partners and then contact thosepeople to let them know they have been exposed to chlamydia and getthem tested. Some of it is not putting a condom on.

“At the same time people apparently aren’t becoming aware ofsafe sex and practices to prevent the spread of disease,” hesaid.

Chlamydia, which can be resolved through treatment, is mostcommonly seen in people between the ages of 18 and 25 years old; 97percent of cases in Utah County are in people between the ages of15 and 34 years old. Chlamydia also is reported twice as often inwomen, said Dr. Joseph Miner, the executive director of the countyhealth department.

The bacterial disease can resolve itself, but a person is acarrier for much longer and is at a greater risk of the infectionturning serious, Miner said. If left untreated, chlamydia canresult in infertility and other serious complications.

He attributed much of the increase to the improved testingsystem the state has been using; it’s a urine test instead of agenital swab, so people are more willing to be tested and theresults are more accurate.

The increase in population in Utah County also plays a role, hesaid. and while some of the numbers are the result of more sexualpartners and unprotected sex, other STD reporting rates are notincreasing, and those would also increase if promiscuity was thesole factor.

Erin Hellstrom, the STD prevention specialist with the statehealth department, said health officials at the state level aretrying to educate people, especially teenagers and young adults,about chlamydia so they know how to avoid it and to get screened ifthey think they’ve been exposed. a social marketing campaign, Catchthe answers, has been going on for the last year or so along theWasatch front, and a website directs people where to find theclosest clinic.

People also can get online and ask questions anonymously orparticipate in online forums.

“We really wanted to get that age group talking about chlamydiaand gonorrhea and being more open about it and getting theirquestions answered,” she said.

Since may 2009, 475 people have asked questions, and 15,000people have visited the website, catchtheanswers.net.