AEGiS-AP: STDs on the rise as chlamydia sets record

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2009. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

STDs on the rise as chlamydia sets record

Associated Press - November 17, 2009
Mike Stobbe, Associated Press

Atlanta -- Sexually spread diseases continue to rise, with reported chlamydia cases setting yet another record in 2008, government health officials said Monday.

Last year, there were 1.2 million new cases of chlamydia, a sometimes symptomless infection that can lead to infertility in women. It was the most ever reported, up from the old record of 1.1 million cases in 2007.

Better screening is the most likely reason, said Dr. John Douglas Jr. of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Syphilis also has been increasing lately. About 13,500 cases of the most contagious form of the disease were reported in 2008, up from about 11,500 the year before.

Syphilis can kill if untreated, but chlamydia is not life threatening. Neither is gonorrhea, which seams to have leveled off in recent years. Gonorrhea cases dropped to about 337,000 cases in 2008, down from about 356,000 cases.

Girls, ages 15 through 19, had the largest reported number of chlamydia and gonorrhea cases, accounting for more than 1 in 4 of those cases. But they're often screened more than other people since the 1993 federal recommendations that emphasize testing for sexually active women age 25 and younger.

The government estimates that there are roughly 19 million new cases of sexually transmitted disease annually. Experts say the most common is HPV, human papillomavirus, which can cause genital warts, cervical cancer and other cancers.

The government estimates the HPV virus causes 6.2 million new cases each year. That is an old estimate, based on data from 2000, before a vaccine against some types of HPV came on the market in 2006.

The CDC estimates that there are 1.6 million new cases of genital herpes each year. The agency also estimates there about 56,000 new cases of HIV each year.

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