STDs in America Hit an All-Time High in 2018

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released its 2018 STD Surveillance report, which revealed that after five straight years of dramatic increases, the Unites States saw an all-time high of sexual transmitted illness rates.

In a nutshell, the report revealed that there were 1.8 million cases of chlamydia in 2018 (a 19 percent increase since 2014); 583,405 cases of gonorrhea (a 63 percent increase since 2014); 35,063 cases in primary and secondary syphilis (a 71 percent increase since 2014); and 1,306 cases of congenital syphilis (a 185 percent increase since 2014).

According to a press release from the National Coalition of STD Directors, the drastic increases are largely due to federal, state, and local funding cutbacks resulting in a “public health infrastructure that is ill-equipped to handle this growing public health threat.”

“We have an STD crisis in the US because prevention programs were sold short for years,” David C. Harvey, executive director of the NCSD, said in a statement. “Our first line of defense is underfunded and overwhelmed, leaving Americans vulnerable to STD outbreaks, and that’s exactly what we’re seeing.”