CNN: Three STDs reach all-time highs in the US, new CDC report says

[China]

Syphilis and other STDs are on the rise. States lost millions of dollars to fight and treat them

 

State and local health departments across the U.S found out in June they’d be losing the final two years of a $1 billion investment to strengthen the ranks of people who track and try to prevent sexually transmitted diseases — especially the rapid increase of syphilis cases.

 

The fallout was quick: Nevada, which saw a 44 percentage-point jump in congenital syphilis from 2021 to 2022, was supposed to get more than $10 million to bolster its STD program budget. Instead, the state’s STD prevention budget went down by more than 75%, reducing its capacity to respond to syphilis, according to Dawn Cribb at the Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health.

 

Several states told The Associated Press that the biggest impact from having the program canceled in the national debt ceiling deal is that they’re struggling to expand their disease intervention specialist workforce. These people do contact tracing and outreach, and are a key piece of trying to stop the spread of syphilis, which reached a low point in the U.S. in 2000 but has increased almost every year since. In 2021, there were 176,713 cases — up 31% from the prior year.

 

“It was devastating, really, because we had worked so hard to shore up our workforce and also implement new activities,” said Sam Burgess, the STD/HIV program director for the Louisiana Department of Health. His state was slated to receive more than $14 million overall, but instead got $8.6 million that must be spent by January 2026. “And we’re still scrambling to try to figure out how we can plug some of those funding gaps.”

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Cooked Crack]

 

[China]

Counties with the highest STI rates in Kansas

 

Sexually transmitted infections are on the rise, putting more people at risk as they spread. Chlamydia rates have nearly doubled since 2000, while the rate of gonorrhea went up by 50% over the same period. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that syphilis rates are reaching levels last seen in the 1950s.

 

But some regions of the U.S. are seeing higher rates than others.

 

Stacker used CDC data to look at which counties reported the highest rate of sexually transmitted infections in Kansas. Counties are ranked by the rate of chlamydia infections, the most prominent STI at the national level, with gonorrhea and then syphilis rates serving as tiebreakers. This story focuses on bacterial infections, which can be cured, rather than viral infections such as HIV and herpes. At the county level, 2021 cases are the most recent available from the CDC, but state and national-level data for 2022 are also included. This story focuses on sexual transmissions and does not include congenital syphilis cases that were inherited from the mother.

 

Condoms are the most effective way to prevent the spread of STIs for people with multiple sexual partners, but research has found a decreasing rate of condom use among straight, bisexual, and gay male populations.

 

Click on the link for the full article