In a new study, researchers showed that one in five people in the United States probably carries a sexually transmitted infection.
They found on any given day in 2018, nearly 68 million people had a sexually transmitted disease.
There were 26 million new cases that year, and the early half of newly acquired STIs occurred in people aged 15 to 24 years.
The researchers refer to these diseases—such as HIV, syphilis and gonorrhea—as sexually transmitted infections or STIs.
The research was conducted by a team at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
People with STIs don’t always have symptoms.
Left untreated, some STIs can increase the risk of HIV infection or cause chronic pelvic pain, pelvic inflammatory disease, infertility, and/or severe pregnancy and newborn complications.
In the study, the team estimated $16 billion in lifetime medical costs from STIs, and most ($13.7 billion) were associated with HIV. Another $755 million were attributed to HPV infections.
More than $1 billion in lifetime medical costs were connected with chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis combined.
About 60% of those costs were among 15- to 24-year-olds. Nearly 75% of the $2.2 billion in non-HIV-related STI medical costs were among women.
The team says STIs are a preventable and treatable national health threat with substantial personal and economic impact.
There is an urgent need to reverse the trend of increasing STIs, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected many STI prevention services.
One author of the study is Dr. Jonathan Mermin.
The study is published in the journal Sexually Transmitted Diseases.
Copyright © 2021 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
