Reportable cases of gonorrhea, a sexually transmitted disease, tripled in La Crosse county between 2017 and 2018, according to data from the Wisconsin Electronic Disease Surveillance System.
“Gonorrhea isn’t as common as chlamydia, but we’ve definitely seen an increase that’s catching our attention,” said Jennifer Rombalski, La Crosse County Health Department director.
There were 145 reportable cases in 2018 compared with 48 cases in 2017, Rombalski said. Seventy-three percent of those cases were in the city of La Crosse, 15 percent in Onalaska, 7 percent in Holmen, 3 percent in West Salem, and 2 percent in the rest of the county.
By comparison, there were 539 cases of chlamydia in 2018, compared with 489 cases in 2017, a 10 percent increase.
Gonorrhea and chlamydia were also showing up in different places in La Crosse, Rombalski said. Whereas chlamydia clusters tend to concentrate on La Crosse’s college campuses, La Crosse’s gonorrhea clusters were on the North Side, Rombalski said.
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The county health department isn’t sure why gonorrhea cases have increased, but Rombalski said it might be because more people were getting tested.
Gonorrhea is a bacterial infection that affects both men and women, according Mayo Clinic. It targets the urethra — the duct from which urine leaves the bladder — rectum or throat. Gonorrhea can also infect the cervix in females.
Symptoms include painful urination, pus-like discharge from the tip of the penis, and pain or swelling in one testicle in men; and increased vaginal discharge, painful urination, vaginal bleeding apart from menstruation, and abdominal or pelvic pain in women.
Doctors test for gonorrhea by taking a urine sample or tissue swab at the infected site and prescribe antibiotics for treatment.
Untreated, gonorrhea can spread to other parts of the body, causing fever, rash, skin sores, joint pain, swelling and stiffness. It can also lead to infertility, complications during birth for babies, and increased susceptibility to HIV infection.
To prevent the risk of contracting gonorrhea during sex, the Mayo clinic recommends using condoms.
Jennifer Lu is the La Crosse Tribune environmental reporter. You can reach her by phone at 608-791-8217 and by email jennifer.lu@lee.net.