STDs in The US Are Dramatically Increasing, And There's a Key Factor to Blame

According to an official report, reported cases of STDs went up in the United States as the number of screenings decreased.

Jonathan Mermin, a doctor and senior official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that the STDs have increased over the past decade because of the decline in public health funding.

The number of reported gonorrhea and primary and secondary syphilis cases was up in 2019.

The number of congenital syphilis cases among newborns increased by more than 200 percent from 2016 to 2019. Preliminary data shows primary and secondary syphilis cases continued to increase.

Experts suspect that the 13 percent decline in reported cases is misleading since the disease is often asymptomatic and detected through screening.

There were over 2 million cases of STDs.

Mermin told reporters on a call that it was a difficult time for control of the STD.

We already had strained, crumbling public health infrastructure. Many communities in the United States do not have specialty clinics for STDs. An exacerbation of the already increasing trends was what that led to.

There are lifelong physical and mental health problems associated with congenital syphilis.

The number of STDs reported decreased in the early months of 2020 but then increased by the end of the year.

The spike can be blamed on reduced in-person healthcare services resulting in less screening, diversion of health workers from STD work to respond to the COVID pandemic, and lapse in health insurance due to unemployment.

The CDC official said that poverty and insurance status resulted in worse STD outcomes.

More than half of reported STDs were among 16 to 24 year olds. Black, Hispanic and Native American people were disproportionately impacted, while gay and bisexual males were the majority of the cases of primary and secondary syphilis.

The data shows that the worst affected states are often the least developed, such as Mississippi.

Around half of gonorrhea cases were estimated to be resistant to at least one antibiotic, but the CDC doesn't believe antibiotic resistance is a driver of rising cases at this time.

Agence France-Presse