Roundup: Rising STI Numbers May Be Good News

Robin Marty

There are a lot of cases of sexually transmitted diseases being reported, but maybe in the long run that's a good thing?

In Alaska, the state is coping with a multi-year gonorrhea epidemic, but health officials are finding a silver lining in all of the reported cases.

Via Anchorage Daily News:

“Hopefully, the high numbers now are more of a success story in that people are coming in and getting tested. Though I am surprised the numbers haven’t declined,” said Susan Jones, the state’s HIV/STD program manager. “It’s this continuing rise in numbers that we haven’t been able to get under control.”

Symptoms can be mild, which may delay people coming in for testing and treatment, allowing them to continue to spread the disease, health officials say.

Back in the 1970s, a man with a gonorrhea infection would have experienced such painful burning and heavy discharge that he would have likely gone to the doctor within a week. Now, with the current, milder strain, he might not seek help for months.

The health consequences for untreated gonorrhea can be severe: People can become infertile, a result more common for women than for men, Jones said.

Health officials will contact sexual partners of infected people and urge them to get tested and treated, without saying how they may have been exposed.

“I like to say, ‘Care enough to get your partners identified and treated,'” Jones said.

Alaskan health officials aren’t the only ones to say that a rise in numbers may actually be a good thing.  U.S. health experts are also saying the rise in reported cases is a silver lining on a dark STI cloud.

A recent study released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that Chlamydia, a sexually transmitted infection caused by Chlamydia trachomatis has become the leading reported STD with Gonorrhea hitting the lowest rate as compared to the past years.

The CDC has also suggested that around 2.8 million Americans suffer annually from Chlamydia but even if the data collected showed a 19 % surge in the reported cases, the agency evaluates the reports as good news. This is because more individuals these days are  getting screened and tested.

Minnesota, however, isn’t nearly as positive about the reports of increased infections, especially the rise of chlamydia.  Echo Press reports:

According to the CDC’s latest report , U.S. rates of chlamydia and syphilis continue to rise, with an increase in chlamydia of 2.8 percent over the past year. Young women are most adversely affected, as women are nearly 3 times as likely as men to be diagnosed with chlamydia.

Unfortunately, many of the trends evidenced in the report are being seen right here in Minnesota. Sexually transmitted infections have climbed to historic levels, with chlamydia rates in the state more than doubling in the past thirteen years. In some communities of color, the situation is dire, as health care inequities have led to rates so high that the epidemic has become self-sustaining.

“This is an unconscionable public health failure. It’s time for solutions,” said PPMNS President and CEO Sarah Stoesz.


Whether you can see good news in the results or not, there is no denying that far too many in the U.S. are suffering from sexually transmitted infections that could be reduced with better education and more access to condoms.

Mini Roundup: Two very different stories of the New York City Council meeting on Crisis Pregnancy Center regulations.

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