Who's Got the Syph? We've Got the Syph! (Yeeeeah, We Got It!)

Posted by Emily Farris

Reported cases of sexually transmitted diseases—namely, syphilis and chlamydia—are on the rise.

According to a 2007 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report, updated earlier this month, chlamydia infections rose to 1.1 million in the United States, and rates of syphilis have been rising for seven years.

Believe it or not, this could actually be good news.

Some believe that numbers are are growing not because more people are becoming infected, but because more people are being screened and tested. If that is the case, hopefully the numbers will begin to drop off when those testing positive can treat their STDs and prevent their spread.

[Daily Toreador: Rise in syphilis, clamydia rates concern health officials]

Reason #8,847 Not To Sleep With A Bali Hooker...

"I had bedbugs, you had herpes."

Time to Talk to Grandma and Grandpa About the Birds and the Bees

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Posted Jan 27 2009, 03:04 PM

Filed under: chlamydia, stds, statistics, studies, testing, sexually transmitted diseases, sex studies, s.t.d.s, vladimir lenin, lenin, the syph, screening, prevention, centers for disease control and prevention, syphilis

Comments

Apollo said:

Isn't the number of people being tested a very quantifiable stat? If it's true that it's not an actual increase in cases as much as an increase in people getting the tests wouldn't that be really easy to prove? Like, "Oh yeah there are 500,000 more reported cases of syphilis but that's because 8,000,000 more people got tested than last year. EIGHT MILLION." Just seems odd to have to say "some believe" when it's such an easy-to-confirm statistic.

January 27, 2009 3:15 PM

Emily Farris said:

If you click through to the article, this is really all it gives: "The rise may not accurately indicate an increase, Vaughn said. The increased rates may stem from better screening and more sensitive tests used to detect the infections."

If you have the numbers, we'd love to see them.

January 27, 2009 3:39 PM

mira said:

Lenin as example of syphilis?

January 28, 2009 6:47 PM

Herpes said:

According to this (down) 90% of americans don't know they got herpes

herpes-simplex.net/post_1233168186.html

February 2, 2009 11:23 AM

About Emily Farris

Emily Farris writes about culture and food for numerous publications and websites you've probably never heard of, including her own blog eefers. Her first cookbook, "Casserole Crazy: Hot Stuff for Your Oven" was published in 2008. Emily recently escaped New York and now lives in a ridiculously large apartment in Kansas City, MO with her cat, but just one... so far.