Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

STDs are on the rise — are you part of the problem?

A spike in sexually transmitted diseases last year has Clark County health officials worried their message of safe sex and regular testing might be getting lost in the shuffle.

There were more cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis and HIV last year compared with 2013, continuing a recent yearly trend of increases, according to Clark County Health District data.

Incidents of all those STDs recorded double-digit rises, but syphilis jumped the most. Cases of early latent syphilis rose 43 percent last year in Southern Nevada, while cases of primary and secondary syphilis increased 48 percent.

Meanwhile, chlamydia cases climbed by 18 percent, gonorrhea by 33 percent and HIV by 17 percent.

“People need to start talking and go out and get tested,” said Arthuro Mehretu, a communicable disease supervisor for the Health District.

Clark County is far from alone. Many STDs have been inching up nationwide, especially syphilis. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted a 10 percent increase in primary and secondary syphilis from 2012 to 2013, the most recent national data available.

The increase is the exact opposite of what health officials envisioned in 1999 when the CDC released a national plan to eliminate syphilis. Around that time, public health workers had reason to be optimistic. In 2000, the rate of primary and secondary syphilis in the United States was the lowest since national reporting began in 1941.

So what’s driving the uptick? Health officials theorize it’s a combination of factors, including multiple sexual partners, fewer STD prevention campaigns and increasingly popular dating apps and websites that make casual sex easier. The CDC estimates 75 percent of syphilis cases in recent years were among men having sex with men.

Mehretu cautioned against reading too much into the trend in Clark County. He said the agency’s switch to an electronic system for disease investigations might have been partially to blame for the increases. The survey tool, put into place in February 2014, speeds the process, allowing the Health District to catch cases earlier.

But Dr. Dale Carrison, chief of staff at University Medical Center, said he wasn’t seeing as many local STD prevention efforts as in the past.

“I don’t consider (a condom) birth control,” Carrison said. “I consider it infection control. You get a new generation, and they don’t see these ads, and they’re going to have sex.”

Young people ages 15 to 24 are most at risk for contracting sexually transmitted infections. Half of all new STDs occur in that age bracket.

The CDC reports about 20 million new STD infections a year in the United States, which result in $16 billion in annual health care costs.

Untreated STDs can pose long-term health consequences, such as infertility, so the CDC urges people to get tested regularly, particularly young women, African-Americans, men who have sex with men and people with limited or no health care, who are most at risk.

Health officials say people need to have honest discussions with their partners about their sexual history and practice safe sex.

“For Pete’s sake, use protection,” Carrison said. “There are just so many bad things that could happen.”

Get tested. The Southern Nevada Health District’s STD clinic at 400 Shadow Lane, Suite 106, Las Vegas, offers testing, treatment, examinations, referrals and counseling for $40.

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