Opinion: Sexually transmitted infections are at an all-time high. Urgent action is needed
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Tuesday unprecedented year-after-year rises in rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in the United States. As physicians who care for patients with these infections and who oversee public health responses to STI outbreaks, we, like many of our colleagues, are frustrated and challenged by the anemic responses to this escalating public health epidemic.
Our concerns are especially acute because the medical and public health communities know how to prevent these infections, yet as a country we have failed to implement basic public health practices that could reverse these trends.
STIs are at an . Nearly 2.3 million cases of chlamydia, — infants born with syphilis contracted from their undiagnosed and untreated mothers — more than doubled from 2013 to 2017. Congenital syphilis is especially worrisome because it can cause miscarriage, premature birth, stillbirth, or death of newborn babies.
