STD Cases Hit an All-time High in the US

Neisseria gonorrhoeae bacteria, which causes gonorrhea. Image Credit: NIAID/Flickr

The number of cases of infection by three major sexually transmitted diseases (STD) has reached a peak in the United States, announced the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A main reason for the increase has been budget cuts to local and state STD programs that have reduced access to treatment and testing, the agency stated.

“We’re very concerned about these unprecedented high number of cases of STDs in the United States,” Gail Bolan, the director of the CDC’s Division of Sexually Transmitted Disease Prevention. “These new numbers are making it really clear that many Americans are not getting the preventive services they need.”

Last year, over 1.5 million cases of chlamydia (up by almost 6 percent since 2014), around 400,000 cases of gonorrhea (up by almost 13 percent), and around 24,000 cases of syphilis (up 19 percent) were detected, stated a CDC report released Friday. The three diseases are the most prevalent STDs in the United States.

Although all three STDs can be treated with antibiotics, drug-resistant versions of the diseases are increasingly posing complications for doctors and patients alike. In July, the CDC announced that gonorrhea may soon be untreatable as the disease becomes resistant to the only two antibiotics available to treat it. “We’re very concerned about the threat of untreatable gonorrhea,” Bolan says.

The CDC linked the increase in STD infections to limited access to screening and treatment. Budget cuts have affected more than half of local and state STD programs, the agency pointed out, with more than 20 health department STD clinics closing in one year alone. STDs cost the American healthcare system almost $16 billion every year, says the CDC.

“We have reached a decisive moment for the nation,” Jonathan Mermin, director of CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, stated in a press release. “STD rates are rising, and many of the country’s systems for preventing STDs have eroded. We must mobilize, rebuild and expand services — or the human and economic burden will continue to grow.”

Young people, gay and bisexual men are the segments of the population most at risk of being infected by an STD. Last year, half of gonorrhea cases and around two-thirds of chlamydia cases were among Americans aged 15 to 24 years old. Sex between men accounted for most new primary and secondary syphilis and gonorrhea cases. The rate of women being infected by syphilis also increased by over 27 percent in 2015. A pregnant woman with syphilis can pass the infection on to her baby, causing the latter to be born dead or with developmental problems.

The CDC calls on the government to expand access to testing and treatment. “STD prevention resources across the nation are stretched thin, and we’re beginning to see people slip through the public health safety net,” said Mermin. “Turning the STD epidemics around requires bolstering prevention efforts and addressing new challenges — but the payoff is substantial in terms of improving health, reducing disparities and saving billions of dollars.”