Here We Go… CDC is Sounding the Alarm on an “Out-Of-Control” STD Epidemic

 

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The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is warning of a significant increase in reported cases of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in recent years. This alarming trend has prompted health officials to call for increased prevention and treatment efforts.

 

According to the data from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, the number of syphilis infections in the state climbed by 259 percent between 2015 and 2021.

In 2021 alone, Missouri reported 63 cases of congenital syphilis, the highest number since 1994. In the same year, congenital syphilis infected 11 people in St. Louis County and 11 people in St. Louis City. In contrast to 2017, there were just three similar occurrences in the county and one in the city, according to Fox 2 reports. 

 

“In this outbreak, most cases of monkeypox have been associated with sexual contact,” the agency added. “Monkeypox can more accurately be described as “sexually transmissible.”

“At this time, data suggest that gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men make up the majority of cases in the current monkeypox outbreak,” CDC said.

According to David Harvey, the executive director of the National Coalition of STD Directors, the huge increase in reported cases of STDs is “out of control.”

More from AP:

Sharply rising cases of some sexually transmitted diseases — including a 26% rise in new syphilis infections reported last year — are prompting U.S. health officials to call for new prevention and treatment efforts.

“It is imperative that we … work to rebuild, innovate, and expand (STD) prevention in the U.S.,” said Dr. Leandro Mena of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a speech Monday at a medical conference on sexually transmitted diseases.

Infections rates for some STDs, including gonorrhea and syphilis, have been rising for years. Last year the rate of syphilis cases reached its highest since 1991 and the total number of cases hit its highest since 1948. HIV cases are also on the rise, up 16% last year.

And an international outbreak of monkeypox, which is being spread mainly between men who have sex with other men, has further highlighted the nation’s worsening problem with diseases spread mostly through sex.

Officials are working on new approaches to the problem, such as home-test kits for some STDs that will make it easier for people to learn they are infected and to take steps to prevent spreading it to others.

Another expert said a core part of any effort must work to increase the use of condoms.

“It’s pretty simple. More sexually transmitted infections occur when people are having more unprotected sex,” said Dr. Mike Saag, an infectious disease expert at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.