2021 Syphilis Rates Increased by Nearly One-Third in the United States

FRIDAY, April 14, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Reported cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis all increased between 2020 and 2021, reaching a total of more than 2.5 million reported cases, according to a new report released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The report, Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance, 2021, relied on the final CDC surveillance data for 2021.

Gonorrhea rates increased more than 4 percent, as did chlamydia rates, which still did not reach prepandemic levels, likely due to changes in screening, authors of the report say. Syphilis rates surged nearly 32 percent for combined stages of the infection, including for congenital syphilis, which rose by 32 percent and resulted in 220 stillbirths and infant deaths. Data show sexually transmitted infections disproportionately affected gay and bisexual men and younger people in 2021, and there was a disproportionate number of diagnoses seen among Black/African American and American Indian/Alaska Native people.

"Each of these public health emergencies monopolized sexually transmitted disease program resources and threatened the health of those already disproportionately affected by sexually transmitted infections," Leandro Mena, M.D., M.P.H., director of the CDC Division of STD Prevention, said in a statement. "We can pick up the pieces in our quest to reverse sexually transmitted infection trends by moving forward with a new approach that employs holistic, coordinated care to address concurrent epidemics and health disparities."

Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance, 2021