STD Rates For 15-24 Year-Olds Are Up At An ‘Alarming’ Rate.
It stands to reason that if you cut funding to public health clinics where people can get information and help to prevent sexually transmitted diseases, then the rate of infection from those STD rates might rise. Which is exactly what they have done for the first time since 2006.
According to a study released Tuesday (Nov. 17) by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014 saw an “alarming” rise in cases of syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia. The 2014 STD Surveillance Report found that there were approximately 1.4 million cases of chlamydia, up 2.8 percent since 2013, and that both syphilis and gonorrhea have gone up as well (by 15.1 percent and 5.1 percent, respectively).
The CDC said that these diseases continue to affect young people — especially women — the most, though increases among men also contributed to the alarming numbers.“America’s worsening STD epidemic is a clear call for better diagnosis, treatment, and prevention,” the CDC’s Jonathan Mermin, said in the report. “STDs affect people in all walks of life, particularly young women and men, but these data suggest an increasing burden among gay and bisexual men.
”Even though they are a small portion of the sexually active population, people ages 15-24 accounted for the highest rates of chlamydia and gonorrhea in 2014, and, according to the CDC, “almost two-thirds of all reported cases.”In fact, half of the 20 million new cases of STDs every year strike people in that age group.
One explanation is that despite recommendations for annual chlamydia and gonorrhea screening for sexually active women under 25, experts think “far too many” young people don’t get tested and so they don’t realize they're infected. Why Are The Rates So High? Dr. Gail Bolan of the CDC’s Division of STD Prevention told NBC News that the increase is partly attributable to the reduced funding for public health clinics.“Most recently, there have been significant erosions of state and local STD control programs,” Bolan told NBC. “Most people don't recognize that the direct clinical care of individuals with sexually transmitted diseases is supported by state and local funds and federal funds.”Bolan said that in one year “7 percent of local health departments said they closed their STD clinics,” and 43 percent reported that they had to cut back on hours they were open. Also affecting treatment? One-third of the clinics said they had to raise fees and co-pays, which can cause patients to stay home.
“The consequences of STDs are especially severe for young people,” Bolan noted in the CDC’s report. “Because chlamydia and gonorrhea often have no symptoms, many infections go undiagnosed and this can lead to lifelong repercussions for a woman’s reproductive health, including pelvic inflammatory disease and infertility.”Even as Congress is circling around a bill that includes a potentially “devastating” 20 percent cut in federal funding to STD clinics, the cuts on the state and local level have had a “particularly damaging” effect, according to Stephanie Arnold Pang, a spokesperson for the National Coalition of STD Directors. “I think he funding cuts are one of the potential factors in this [increase in STD rates],” Arnold Pang told MTV News. “Because it means less support, fewer people in the field encouraging people to get tested and treated, which encourages the spread of disease.”Arnold Pang also noted that after the majority (69 percent) of STD programs experienced funding cuts at the height of the recession in 2008-2009, with layoffs at almost a third of the programs and salary freezes or reductions at nearly 70 percent, “the trend has only continued; these jobs have not returned.
”The director of the National Coalition, William Smith, said in a statement that the “shocking” STD rates should be a call to action to increase funding for prevention. “This is a time when the health care delivery system needs public health leadership and additional investments in this work are required to ensure this leadership,” he said. “Cuts to our public health system at the federal, state, and local levels have eviscerated its capacity and this diminished capacity of the public health system simply cannot adequately address STD increases of this magnitude.
”What Should Young People Do If They Think They Are Infected? It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what is causing this troubling increase, but the bottom line is if young people are having symptoms they should get tested and get treated. That’s the advice of Dr. Pritish Tosh, an infectious disease physician at the Mayo Clinic. “We had previously been fairly successful in decreasing STI (sexually transmitted infection) rates, so this increase is notable,” he told MTV News. “Whether the issue is access to care, changes in people’s attitudes toward health care or changes in sexual activity, or the rise of these hook-up apps which have been shown to contribute to the rise in sexually transmitted infections among the young.
Gil Kaufman
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