Sexually transmitted disease rates continue to climb, CDC says

Rates of the sexually transmitted disease (STD) chlamydia are climbing in the U.S., and rates of syphilis — once on the verge of elimination — rose for the seventh consecutive year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Tuesday in its annual report on STDs.

Gonorrhea rates did not increase, but they ceased falling a decade ago, frustrating goals set by public-health leaders.

Chlamydia infections in the United States now top 1.1 million, the highest since records for this infection began and the most for any STD that doctors are required to report, according to the 2007 data, the latest available.

Cases of gonorrhea, which peaked in the 1970s at about 1 million then dropped for years, remain flat at 355,991, according to the CDC report. The disease is the second-most common STD for which data are collected by law.

Women bear the brunt of both chlamydia and gonorrhea, especially their long-term consequences, CDC officials said.

Untreated, both can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease — an infection of the uterus and fallopian tubes that can cause chronic pain, infertility and life-threatening ectopic pregnancy, or pregnancy outside the uterus.

"(They) lead to tremendous problems in our female population, with fertility leading the list," said Dr. John Douglas, director of the CDC's Division of STD Prevention.

Infection with the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis can cause a discharge from the vagina or penis and a burning sensation when urinating, but often does not. Although the consequences are most severe for women, a man's untreated infection can spread to the epididymis — the tube that carries sperm from the testes — causing pain, fever and, rarely, sterility, according to the CDC.

The report found that chlamydia infections occurred at a rate of about 370 per 100,000 people in 2007. That's a 7.5 percent increase from 2006.

Part of that increase might be due to better detection, Douglas said: More people, especially women, are being screened and a more sensitive test is now in use.

Even so, many people with the disease are not identified, and public-health officials believe that the true number of chlamydia infections is closer to 3 million.

The bacterial infection is easily treatable with antibiotics, Nicolai added.

In 2000, public-health officials believed that syphilis was close to being eliminated, but a dramatic jump in infections among gay and bisexual men reversed the downward trend.

Men who engaged in homosexual sex made up 65 percent of the 11,466 cases reported in 2007, roughly the same as in 2006.