Gonorrhea Rate Drops as U.S. Makes Gains Against Some Sexual Diseases
Gonorrhea fell last year to the lowest rate ever recorded in the U.S., according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Gonorrhea cases reported to health authorities in the U.S. totaled 301,174 in 2009, the Atlanta-based health agency said today in a report. That meant there were 99 cases for every 100,000 people, a rate 10 percent lower than in 2008. For the first time in five years, syphilis didn’t increase among women overall, researchers found.
The data show headway in the nation’s battle against sexually transmitted diseases, which cost the health-care system an estimated $16.4 billion annually, the CDC said in a statement. There are about 19 million new STD infections every year in the U.S., including those such as human papillomavirus and herpes that aren’t reported to the CDC, according to researchers. Each year, at least 24,000 women become infertile because of untreated sexual diseases, the CDC said.
“We’re very excited, as we see some signs of progress,” said Charlotte Kent, the acting director of the CDC’s Division of STD Prevention. “We care about these as they’re preventable causes of infertility.”
The number of chlamydia cases rose 2.8 percent from the previous year, probably reflecting increased screening, according to the report. Syphilis increased overall by 5 percent to 13,997 cases.
STD rates were higher in blacks, who accounted for 71 percent of the gonorrhea cases in 2009, and about half of the chlamydia and syphilis cases, the CDC said. Blacks represented 14 percent of the U.S. population, according to the report.
Regardless of race or gender, sexually active people under 25 were more likely to have sexually transmitted diseases, the report found.
To contact the reporter on this story: Elizabeth Lopatto in New York at elopatto@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reg Gale at rgale5@bloomberg.net.
Rate this Page