Cases of the sexually transmitted diseases gonorrhea and syphilis increased during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, with more than half of the infections coming from young people aged 15-24, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
The CDC’s 2020 STD Surveillance Report found that cases of gonorrhea and primary and secondary syphilis rose by 10% and 7% from 2019 to 677,769 and 133,945 infections, respectively. Congenital syphilis among newborns also increased by 15% from 2019 to 2,148 cases.
But the CDC found that “decreased STD screening and underdiagnosis during the pandemic” led to a 13% decline in chlamydia to 1.6 million cases. Since chlamydia accounts for most STDs cases, that caused a slight drop in overall reported STDs from 2.5 million cases in 2019 to 2.4 million in 2020.
“There were moments in 2020 when it felt like the world was standing still, but STDs weren’t,” said Dr. Jonathan Mermin, director of the CDC’s National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention.
“The unrelenting momentum of the STD epidemic continued even as STD prevention services were disrupted,” he added.
The CDC found that 53% of reported STDs in 2020 occurred among young people aged 15-24.
Gonorrhea and syphilis cases increased to record highs for the seventh straight year in 2020.
For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.
• Sean Salai can be reached at ssalai@washingtontimes.com.
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