Recent studies have publicized a new epidemic of the venereal disease chlamydia, but few Harvard students suffer from this or any other sexually transmitted disease, according to officials at the University Health Services (UHS).

Harvard has "a very low incidence" of all venereal diseases, said UHS Director Dr. Warren E.C. Wacker. Harvard's rate of venereal disease is low because the University is a closed community, Wacker said. "If there's not much infiltration from the outside it will stay low," he said.

Chlamydia, which if untreated can cause sterility in both sexes, is now 10-to-20 times more common than gonnorhea and hundreds of times more common than herpes, said Dr. Robert Harrison of the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control.

"There are more new cases of chlamydia per year than syphillis, gonnorhea, and herpes combined," Harrison said. Chlamydia is now the most prevalent of all sexually transmitted diseases, he said.

But despite estimates that as many as one in 10 students suffers from chlamydia, Harrison said that the epidemic is more serious outside college campuses.

"College people in general tend to be relatively more affluent and less promiscuous" than others of the same age, and thus have a lower incidence of sexually transmitted diseases, he said.

Of the 60 tests administered in October by UHS to students who thought they had venereal disease, only about 10 percent were diagnosed as positive for chlamydia, said Wacker.

Be Prepared

Still, UHS is taking no chances. Beginning this month, the health services will distribute an information pamphlet to all students about the symptoms and treatment of venereal diseases, said UHS Health Educator Kathleen M. Kniepmann.

"We wanted to make people aware that syphillis and gonnorhea haven't disappeared," Kniepmann said.

The 12-page leaflet discusses ways of preventing sexually transmitted diseases ranging from AIDS and chlamydia to hepatitis B.

Pound of Cure

Chlamydia is curable with antibiotics and less serious than life threatening diseases like AIDS, but it can lead to sterility in both sexes and a variety of other medical complications if untreated, according to a report in this week's Chronicle of Higher Education.

The disease has been known to cause inflammation of the testicles in men, while in women, chlamydia can cause pregnancies outside the uterus, the report says. The UHS handbook says that the disease can make urination painful for both men and women.

The disease is particularly difficult to diagnose in women, because the symptons are less noticeable than in men. Some reports claim that sometimes there are no symptoms of chlamydia for women