Are STDs getting better or worse? I have been doing education on sexual health for almost twenty years and have seen great advances in vaccines and testing and public awareness of STDs. You would expect some progress in this epidemic.
The most recent numbers still show STDs are getting worse. Six weeks ago the CDC released their numbers for 2011. (It takes about a year to gather the data after the end of a calendar year.)
- Chlamydia is up 8%.
- Gonorrhea is up 4%.
Our young people pay the highest price for this epidemic.
- High school teens make up about 7% of the US population but each year account for 27% of Gonorrhea and 32% of Chlamydia cases.
- High school and college-age young people are about 14% of the population but account for 62% of Gonorrhea and an astounding 70% of Chlamydia cases.
This only accounts for "reported cases." The CDC states that
"many cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis continue to go undiagnosed and unreported, and data on several additional STDs - such as human papillomavirus, herpes simplex virus, and trichomoniasis - are not routinely reported."
Therefore we are only seeing a small glimpse of this problem.
One consequence of this epidemic is that an estimated 24,000 women become infertile each year as a result of STDs.
Remember, two people who save sex for marriage and then only have sex with each other do not have a risk of STDs.
CDC. (2012, December). STD Trends in the Unites States. Retrieved from Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs): http://www.cdc.gov/std/stats11/trends-2011.pdf
U.S. Census Bureau. (2011). Table 7. Resident Population by Sex and Age: 1980 to 2010. Retrieved from Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2012: http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s0007.pdf
