One in Five Americans Has STI and Half of Infections Are in People Under Age 24, CDC Reveals
Mary Kekatos
1/30/2021 12:01:00 PM
Mary Kekatos wrote this article in the Daily Mail:
An estimated one in five Americans has a sexually transmitted infection (STI), a new report finds.
Data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows there were nearly 68 million STIs on any given day (prevalent) and 26 million newly acquired (incident) STIs in 2018.
What's more, almost 50 percent of all incident STIs were diagnosed in those between ages 15 and 24 years old.
An STI, sometimes called a sexually transmitted disease (STD), is an infection that is passed from one person to another through sexual contact either vaginally, orally or anally.
Some are bacterial infections that are curable with a single-dose regimen of antibiotics while others are viral infections that cannot be cured but can be modulated with antivirals.
STIs do not always have symptoms and, if left diagnosed and untreated, can have serious health consequences. Some infections can increase the risk of HIV or cause chronic pelvic pain, pelvic inflammatory disease and even infertility.
For the report, published in the journal Sexually Transmitted Diseases, the CDC focused on eight STIs: chlamydia, gonorrhea, trichomoniasis, syphilis, genital herpes, HPV, sexually transmitted hepatitis B, and sexually transmitted HIV.
The number of prevalent and incident infections was calculated by multiplying each STI's per capita estimate by the full resident population estimate. Results revealed an estimated 67.6 million STIs on any given day.
With a population of approximately 320 million people, the authors say this suggests about 20 percent of Americans had an STI at a given point in 2018.
The four most common infections were chlamydia, trichomoniasis, genital herpes, and HPV, making up 97.6 percent of all STIs on any given day and 93.1 percent of all newly-acquired STIs.
What's more, those new infections will likely cost the U.S. healthcare system an estimated $16 billion in lifetime medical costs.
Young people ages 15 to 24 account for about 60% of the combined healthcare costs for chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis, according to the CDC.
Women make up nearly 75% of the $2.2 billion in non-HIV-related STI medical costs, the agency said.
An estimated one in five Americans has a sexually transmitted infection (STI), a new report finds.
Data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows there were nearly 68 million STIs on any given day (prevalent) and 26 million newly acquired (incident) STIs in 2018.
What's more, almost 50 percent of all incident STIs were diagnosed in those between ages 15 and 24 years old.
An STI, sometimes called a sexually transmitted disease (STD), is an infection that is passed from one person to another through sexual contact either vaginally, orally or anally.
Some are bacterial infections that are curable with a single-dose regimen of antibiotics while others are viral infections that cannot be cured but can be modulated with antivirals.
STIs do not always have symptoms and, if left diagnosed and untreated, can have serious health consequences. Some infections can increase the risk of HIV or cause chronic pelvic pain, pelvic inflammatory disease and even infertility.
For the report, published in the journal Sexually Transmitted Diseases, the CDC focused on eight STIs: chlamydia, gonorrhea, trichomoniasis, syphilis, genital herpes, HPV, sexually transmitted hepatitis B, and sexually transmitted HIV.
The number of prevalent and incident infections was calculated by multiplying each STI's per capita estimate by the full resident population estimate. Results revealed an estimated 67.6 million STIs on any given day.
With a population of approximately 320 million people, the authors say this suggests about 20 percent of Americans had an STI at a given point in 2018.
The four most common infections were chlamydia, trichomoniasis, genital herpes, and HPV, making up 97.6 percent of all STIs on any given day and 93.1 percent of all newly-acquired STIs.
What's more, those new infections will likely cost the U.S. healthcare system an estimated $16 billion in lifetime medical costs.
Young people ages 15 to 24 account for about 60% of the combined healthcare costs for chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis, according to the CDC.
Women make up nearly 75% of the $2.2 billion in non-HIV-related STI medical costs, the agency said.