Skip to main content
ad info

 
CNN.com
  health AIDS Aging Alternative Medicine Cancer Children Diet & Fitness Men Women
CNN.com EUROPE:
Editions|myCNN|Video|Audio|News Brief|Free E-mail|Feedback  
 

Search


Search tips
HEALTH
TOP STORIES

New treatments hold out hope for breast cancer patients

Parents to appeal order that Florida woman can die

Diabetic treatment may trigger lethal brain swelling

Gulf War illness answer eludes doctors

New gay AIDS infections rise sharply in San Francisco

Study shows rats dream about running mazes

(MORE)

TOP STORIES

India quake toll rising

Plea to delay climate talks

Global BSE warning issued

Cuba explains Czech arrests

(MORE)

 MARKETS    1613 GMT, 12/28
5217.4
-25.00
5160.1
+42.97
4624.58
+33.42

 
SPORTS

(MORE)

 All Scoreboards
WEATHER
European Forecast

 Or choose another Region:
EUROPE

WORLD

TECHNOLOGY

ENTERTAINMENT

  IN OTHER NEWS

U.S.

TRAVEL



(MORE HEADLINES)
EDITIONS:
CNN.com U.S.:
*

LOCAL LANGUAGES:



MULTIMEDIA:

CNN WEB SITES:

CNN NETWORKS:
CNN International

TIME INC. SITES:

SITE INFO:

WEB SERVICES:

Syphilis down, gonorrhea up in U.S., study finds

Syphilis down, gonorrhea up in U.S., study finds

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Syphilis rates are the lowest they have been since officials started keeping track in the United States, the government said Tuesday, but gonorrhea rates have started a troubling rise.

These figures suggest that targeted information campaigns work, and that keeping people in the dark about sexually transmitted diseases gives those illnesses a chance to take hold, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in its report, released at a meeting in Milwaukee.

The United States still has very high rates of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), the CDC said in its report.

"And while some STDs, such as syphilis, have been brought to all-time lows, others, like genital herpes, gonorrhea and chlamydia, continue to resurge and spread through the population," it said.

Genital herpes alone affects 20 million people in the United States.

Syphilis, a scourge for centuries, can cause chronic illness, madness and death, but is easily treated with modern antibiotics. Last year the CDC launched a campaign to wipe it out in the United States.

"Syphilis is going down, we believe, because of our concerted efforts at syphilis elimination," Dr. Ron Valdiserri, deputy director of the CDC's National Center for HIV, STD and TB prevention, said in a telephone interview.

The efforts include getting local churches and health authorities involved, better surveillance and screening.

"Rates of syphilis are at all-time lows -- they are the lowest they ever been since we began reporting in 1941," Valdiserri said. The rate is now 2.5 cases per 100,000 people, down from 3.2 per 100,000 in 1997.

But that figure is the only good news in the report, released at an STD meeting in Milwaukee.

"For the first time in two decades we are seeing an increase in gonorrhea rates," Valdiserri said.

The gonorrhea rate rose more than 9 percent from 1975 to 1999, after a 72 percent decline from 1975 to 1997. This upward creep might be due to increased screening and better tests, Valdiserri said.

"But it is also possible there has been a real increase in persons with gonorrhea. In particular, in men who have sex with men, we have seen several outbreaks of gonorrhea in the United States over the past few years."

The United States looks bad when compared to other rich countries, the report said.

"The reported gonorrhea rate in the United States remains the highest of any industrialized country and is roughly 50 times that of Sweden and eight times that of Canada," it reads.

The CDC says 15 million people in the United States become infected every year with an STD, half of which are incurable viral infections such as herpes or human papilloma virus (HPV), the cause of genital warts and cervical cancer. Such incurable STDs affect 65 million Americans.

It says 5.5 million Americans are infected with HPV every year, 3 million get chlamydia, 1 million get herpes and 650,000 get gonorrhea.

"Approximately one-fourth of these new infections are in teenagers," the report reads. It says 42 percent of new infections are in men who have sex with men.

Valdiserri said the reality is that most teenagers have sex.

"By the time they are seniors in high school, 65 percent of American teenagers are sexually experienced," he said. "We know that nearly two-thirds of STDs occur in young people under age 25."

Yet another troubling trend is that gay and bisexual men are seeing a rise in STDs, which put them at higher risk of catching and passing on the AIDS virus.

"One of the studies to be discussed at the conference is a survey of men who have sex with men in the Chicago area," Valdiserri said. "Forty-three percent, that is almost half these men, are unaware of the fact that syphilis can increase the rate of HIV transmission. That's pretty shocking."

STDs also can cause infertility in women and can be passed on to babies in the womb and at birth.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.



RELATED STORIES:
Condition Clinic
STDs
U.S. has one of the highest rates of venereal disease
December 2, 1998
Experts advise testing teens twice yearly for chlamydia
August 11, 1998
CDC: Teens putting themselves at risk
August 13, 1998

RELATED SITES:
MEDLINEplus: Sexually Transmitted Diseases
JAMA - Women's Health Information Center
CDC - Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.

 Search   

Back to the top   © 2001 Cable News Network. All Rights Reserved.
Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines.