Higher rates of chlamydia seen among teens, young adults; men who have sex with men driving syphilis up
TUESDAY, Oct. 8, 2019 (HealthDay News) — During 2017 to 2018, there were increases in the rates of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis, according to a report published online Oct. 8 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Virginia Bowen, Ph.D., and colleagues from the CDC in Atlanta, present statistics and trends for sexually transmitted diseases through 2018 and summarize national surveillance data on three notifiable diseases: chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis.
The researchers found that 1,758,668 cases of Chlamydia trachomatis infection were reported to the CDC in 2018, corresponding to a rate of 539.9 cases per 100,000 population; this number represented a 2.9 percent increase versus the 2017 rate. Adolescents and young adults had the highest rates of reported chlamydia; almost two-thirds of reported cases in 2018 were among individuals aged 15 to 24 years. In 2018, 583,405 gonorrhea cases were reported to the CDC; since the historic low of 2009, the rates of reported gonorrhea have increased 82.6 percent. The overall rate of reported gonorrhea increased 5.0 percent during 2017 to 2018. More than half of all gonorrhea infections in 2018 were estimated to be resistant to at least one antibiotic.
A total of 115,045 cases of all stages of syphilis were reported in 2018, including 35,063 cases of primary and secondary (P&S) syphilis. The rate of P&S syphilis increased 14.9 percent during 2017 to 2018. Since 2000, the rates of P&S syphilis increased among men, mainly due to increases among men who have sex with men.
Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance 2018
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