CDC Reports Rise In STIs; Chlamydia
Rates At All-time High
Rates
of chlamydia and syphilis in the U.S. increased in 2007,
with chlamydia rates reaching a
record high, the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention said on Tuesday in its annual
sexually transmitted infection
report, the Los Angeles Times reports. The rate of gonorrhea
cases is
similar to the rate in 2006. The report found that the total number of chlamydia
infections was 1.1
million, the most since recordkeeping for the disease began and the highest
number
of infections for any
STI that physicians are required to report. The incidence
reached
370 cases per 100,000 people -- a 7.5% increase from 2006. Gonorrhea
cases -- which
peaked
in the 1970s at one million and then declined until a few
years ago -- remained flat
at 119 cases per 100,000 people, making it the second most common STI reported by
physicians. The syphilis rate continued to rise in 2007, as it
has since 2000, with 3.8 cases per
100,000 people -- marking a 15% increase from
2006. In 2000, public health officials
believed syphilis was close to
elimination, but an increase in infections among gay and bisexual
men reversed the downward
trend, the Times reports.
The long-term effects of gonorrhea and chlamydia are
especially damaging to women, CDC
officials said. One consequence of untreated chlamydia or gonorrhea is pelvic inflammatory
disease, which can lead to
infertility or life-threatening ectopic pregnancy. John Douglas,
director of CDC's Division of STI
Prevention, said that both infections "lead to tremendous
problems in our female
population, with fertility leading the list" (Engel, Los Angeles Times,
1/14). According to Douglas, thousands of women become infertile each year because of
untreated chlamydia and gonorrhea infections (Stobbe, AP/Cincinnati Inquirer,
1/14).
Douglas said that the increase in the number of chlamydia
cases could be attributed in part to
better detection and an increase in testing,
especially among women. However, health officials
believe that the reported number
might not be the true number of infections -- which they
predict could be closer
to three million -- because so many infections still go undetected. Linda
Niccolai, an
epidemiologist at the Yale School of Public Health, said that undetected cases are
particularly common among young men, who do not see a physician and continue to infect their
partners without knowing their STI status (Los Angeles Times,
1/14).
STIs continue to disproportionately affect black men and
women, the report showed. Blacks
account for 12% of the U.S. population but 70% of the
gonorrhea cases and nearly half of
chlamydia and syphilis cases, according to CDC.
CDC found that chlamydia and gonorrhea
rates are the highest among black women
ages 15 to 19.
Courtesy of
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com
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