Syphilis, Gonorrhea, Chlamydia Cases On The Rise: See MD Numbers

MARYLAND — The number of cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis diagnosed in the United States in 2017 went up once again, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported this week. According to preliminary data released by the CDC, nearly 2.3 million cases of the three sexually transmitted diseases were diagnosed in 2017, an increase of more than 200,000 cases compared to 2016.

The rise represents the “fourth consecutive year of sharp increases,” the CDC says. Maryland ranks No. 17 nationally for chlamydia cases, No. 16 for gonorrhea cases and No. 13 for syphilis cases.

Between 2013 and 2017, the CDC says gonorrhea diagnoses increased 67 percent overall and diagnoses of primary and secondary syphilis, the most infectious stages of the disease, increased 76 percent. Almost 70 percent of primary and secondary syphilis cases were among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men, according to the CDC.

Chlamydia was the most common STD reported to the CDC in 2017, with 45 percent of the cases in females between the ages of 15-24.

Overall in the U.S., more than 1.7 million cases of chlamydia were reported in 2017, nearly 555,600 cases of gonorrhea were reported and more than 30,000 cases of primary and secondary syphilis were reported, according to preliminary CDC data.

In Maryland, the most recent CDC data for the number of cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis is available for 2016. There were 30,658 reported chlamydia cases in 2016, 509 reported cases of primary and secondary syphilis, and 9,523 reported gonorrhea cases. State data for 2017 will not be available until the full STD surveillance report is published in September.

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“After decades of declining STDs, in recent years, we’ve been sliding backwards,” Gail Bolan, the director of the CDC’s division of STD prevention, said in a telephone briefing with reporters. “In addition to these sharp increases, we’re also facing new challenges that we must address like the potential link between STD risk and drug use and the ongoing threat that gonorrhea will eventually wear down our last highly effective antibiotic.”

Bolan said ceftriaxone is the only remaining antibiotic in the U.S. left to treat gonorrhea. The CDC recommendation to health care providers is to give a shot of ceftriaxone and an oral dose of a drug called azithromycin, given to shield resistance to the antibiotic. But Bolan warned that there is a small but growing faction of gonorrhea lab specimens showing emerging resistance to azithromycin.

Bolan said there is concern that a strain of gonorrhea may emerge some day that does not respond to ceftriaxone.

David Harvey, the executive director at the National Coalition of STD Directors, said on the call that there were three reasons why STDs are rising in America. Harvey said a lack of awareness and education around STDs and sexual health, patients not being screened for STDs and a cut in federal and state funding over the past 20 years have all contributed to the rise.

Harvey said that the country was in the “midst of an absolute STD public health crisis,” and called on Congress to allocate funding to state and local STD programs.

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