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Chlamydia cases hit STD record in U.S. in '06
Associated Press
Nov. 14, 2007 12:00 AM
More than 1 million cases of chlamydia were reported in the U.S. last year - the most ever reported for a sexually transmitted disease, federal health officials said Tuesday.
Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta said they think better and more intensive screening accounts for much of the increase but added that chlamydia was not the only sexually transmitted disease on the rise.
Gonorrhea rates are jumping again after hitting a record low, and an increasing number of cases are caused by a "superbug" version resistant to common antibiotics.
Syphilis is rising, too. The rate of congenital syphilis, which can deform or kill babies, rose for the first time in 15 years.
The CDC releases a report each year on chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis, three diseases caused by sexually transmitted bacteria.
Chlamydia is the most common. Nearly 1,031,000 cases were reported last year, up from 976,000 the year before.
The count broke the single-year record for reported cases of a sexually transmitted disease, 1,013,436 cases of gonorrhea, set in 1978.
Since 1993, the CDC has recommended annual screening in sexually active women ages 15 to 25.
Chlamydia rates are more than seven times higher in Black women then Whites and more than twice as high in Black women than Hispanics. But it's a risk for women of all races, CDC officials said.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1114STDRates1114.html
Damn. It's time for youngsters to start thinking twice before jumping in the sack with every male/female that comes along.
It's all fun and games until you catch something and get put on the inactive list.