CDC: US STD Rate at Record High Again
HealthDay News — Statistics for 2019, the latest data available from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, show that sexually transmitted disease (STD) rates in the United States hit a new high again for the sixth straight year. The CDC STD Surveillance Report was released April 13.
In 2019, nearly 2.5 million Americans had an infection of chlamydia, gonorrhea, or syphilis, the CDC said. And early data from 2020 suggest that these trends are continuing.
The new research revealed about 2.5 million cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis in 2019, which is an almost 30% increase in these STDs between 2015 and 2019. Gay and bisexual men accounted for nearly half of all 2019 primary and secondary syphilis cases, the CDC reported. The highest increase was in syphilis among newborns, which nearly quadrupled between 2015 and 2019.
Although STDs increased across many groups in 2019, racial and ethnic minorities, gay and bisexual men, and youth were hit the hardest. According to the new report, STD rates were 5 to 8 times higher for Black people than for White people, 3 to 5 times higher for American Indian or Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islanders than for Whites, and 1 to 2 times higher for Hispanic people than for White people. Gay and bisexual men accounted for nearly half of all 2019 primary and secondary syphilis cases. Gonorrhea rates were 42 times higher among heterosexual men in some areas. Young people aged 15 to 24 years made up 61% of chlamydia cases and 42 percent of gonorrhea cases.
