Americans Are Getting STDs at Record Rates

Sexually transmitted disease (STD) rates in the U.S. are at a record high for the fourth year in a row, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). All told, nearly 2.3 million cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis were diagnosed in the U.S. in 2017. That’s 200,000 more cases than were diagnosed in 2016, a year that also had a record-high number of cases, according to the CDC. “We are now very concerned about this steep and sustained increase that we’re seeing,” says Dr. Gail Bolan, the director of the CDC’s Division of STD Prevention. “We’ve seen an ebb and flow of STDs in decades past, but now we’re at the highest level of our reportable conditions that we’ve seen in two decades.” Chlamydia remains by far the most common STD in the U.S., with more than 1.7 million cases diagnosed last year. But increases in syphilis diagnoses have been particularly dramatic. Rates have risen by 76% (from around 17,400 cases to more than 30,600 cases) since 2013, according to CDC data. Bolan says that’s in part because transmission patterns are changing. “In past years, syphilis was predominantly among men who have sex with men, and in more recent years, we’re now seeing increases in women and heterosexuals,” she says. (Nonetheless, 70% of cases in 2017 were still diagnosed among men who have sex with men, the report says.) “A lot of communities are not aware ...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized healthytime onetime Sex/Relationships Source Type: news