The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released its 2018 STD Surveillance Report. This report includes data from the past five years. In 2018, there were more than 2.4 million cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis.
Arkansas saw a 60 percent increase in reported gonorrhea cases since 2014 with over 7,300 cases. Chlamydia jumped 13 percent with just over 17,000 cases while syphilis increased 147 percent attached to 964 cases in 2018. “Parents should talk about with their children, the physician should talk to their patients and screen them for sexually transmitted diseases. We need to overall as a society we need to be open about this,” says Arkansas Department of Health’s medical director of infectious diseases Naveen Patil. He stresses society needs to be more open when it comes to addressing such issues.
Health officials strongly urge people to get tested for STDs for the safety of the patient and to prevent a potential spread of the infections. To learn more about STD prevention and to find a testing center close to you, healthy.arkansas.gov.
