The epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases in the US is “out of control”, warn experts from the CDC
After years of containing the disease, it seems that the outbreak of gonorrhea and syphilis is endangering the health of tens of thousands of Americans – babies born blind or deaf have become part of the alarming phenomenon – experts say “we will ask for federal funding to fight the epidemic”
A sharp increase in sexually transmitted disease cases – including a 26% increase in syphilis infections reported last year – is prompting US health officials to call for new prevention and treatment efforts.
“It is our duty to work to rebuild, renew and expand STD prevention efforts in the United States,” said Dr. Leandro Mena of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a speech he delivered on Monday at a medical conference dealing with sexually transmitted diseases.
All this while infection rates in the US of gonorrhea and syphilis have been on the rise for years.
(rot infected with syphilis)
Last year, the rate of syphilis cases reached the highest number since 1991, and the total number of cases reached its highest level since 1948.
AIDS cases are also up by about 16% since last year.
These, along with the international outbreak of monkeypox, spread primarily among men who have sex with other men, further highlighted the nation’s worsening problem with sexually transmitted diseases.
David Harvey, executive director of the National STD Coalition, called the situation “out of control.”
Officials are working on new approaches to the problem, such as home testing kits that would make it easier to prevent the spread. Another expert said that a central part of the effort must be to increase the use of condoms
“It’s pretty simple. More sexually transmitted infections occur when people have unprotected sex,” said Dr. Mike Sugg, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Alabama.
Syphilis, a bacterial disease characterized by sores on the genitals, can lead to severe symptoms and death if left untreated. New syphilis infections have dropped in the US since the 1940s, when antibiotics became widely available, they They even dropped to their lowest level ever in 1998, when fewer than 7,000 new cases were reported across the country – the CDC was so encouraged by progress in eradicating it that it decided to launch a program to eliminate syphilis in the US.
But in 2002 the cases started to rise again, mainly among gay and bisexual men. Since then it seems that the increase only continues.
The highest rates are among men who have sex with men, and among black, Hispanic, and Native American Americans.
While the female rate is lower than the male rate, officials have noted that it is increasing dramatically.
This links to another problem – the increase in congenital syphilis, in which infected mothers transmit the virus to babies, which may lead to the death of the child or health problems such as deafness and blindness.
The number of cases of congenital syphilis was only about 300 a decade ago; but jumped to nearly 2,700 last year. Of that number, about 211 were stillbirths or infant deaths
The increase in syphilis and other sexually transmitted diseases may have several reasons, experts say.
Testing and prevention efforts have been hampered by years of underfunding, and the spread may have worsened—especially during the pandemic—as a result of delays in diagnosis and treatment.
Drug and alcohol use may have contributed to risky sexual behavior, when condom use is on the decline
It is also possible that a spike in sexual activity when people got out of the koruna prisons made people feel liberated.
The arrival of monkeypox added another burden.
The CDC recently sent a letter to state and local health departments saying that AIDS resources could be used to combat the monkeypox outbreak. But some experts say the government should provide more funding for STD work, not divert it
Now public health organizations are pushing a proposal for additional federal funding of at least $500 million for clinics that treat sexually transmitted diseases in the hope that the measure will help curb the spread.
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