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(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- A new report shows there is a high burden of sexually transmitted diseases (STD) in the United States, especially among women and racial minorities.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance 2007, there were more than 1.4 million cases of chlamydia and gonorrhea in the United States in 2007. The chlamydia rate among women was three times higher than men, and the gonorrhea rate was also higher. If left untreated, 40 percent of chlamydia and gonorrhea cases in women can result in pelvic inflammatory disease -- a condition that causes as many as 50,000 women to become infertile each year.
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The report also found African Americans were bearing a great STD burden. While representing only 12 percent of the population, they had about 70 percent of reported gonorrhea cases and almost half of all chlamydia and syphilis cases in 2007.
Syphilis, a disease close to being eliminated as a public health threat less than a decade ago, has increased each year since 2000 and, according to the report, remains a serious threat to the health of gay and bisexual men.
CDC estimates that almost 19 million new sexually transmitted infections occur each year, and almost half of those are among 15- to 24-year-olds. In addition to the threat of infertility, increased risk of HIV acquisition, and other health risks, STDs also have a substantial economic impact. CDC estimates STDs cost the U.S. health care system as much as $15.3 billion annually.
SOURCE: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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