Most people love to hear a good comeback story, but they don’t want to hear about an STD comeback. However, this is what the people in the U.S. are facing – a swift and steep comeback of sexually transmitted diseases such as gonorrhea, syphilis and chlamydia.
A government report shows that these the diseases mentioned earlier have been rising since 2007, which makes it four straight years of rising numbers.
National Coalition of STD Directors Executive Director David Harvey said the U.S. continues to see high STD rates - the highest in the industrialized world. He said the country is in a public health crisis, which has been years in the making.
The CDC said medical experts are worried about the possibility of antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea. Over four percent of gonorrhea samples have been found to be resistant to Zithromax, which is one of two antibiotics doctors prescribe to cure the infection.
Dr. Gail Bolan, CDC’s Division of STD Prevention Director, said this complicates the gonorrhea treatment. She said the nation must plan for the possibility that gonorrhea will become antibiotic-resistant and find other potential treatment options. Bolan said decades of STD decline is reversing.
Experts are trying to learn why STDs are on the rise but believe the blame lies with the dating app culture of today’s generation. Meeting unknown people for sex can increase a person’s chance of catching an STD. And, the chances of finding partners is difficult as people tend to delete numbers of those they have slept with from the dating app.
The best way to stop the spread of STDs is to use condoms when having sex with someone new.
Written by Mark Riegel, MD
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