St. Louis holds No. 1 spot again for rate of gonorrhea, chlamydia cases

ST. LOUIS (KMOX/AP) — The city of St. Louis is No. 1 again for multiple types of sexually transmitted diseases per capita, according to the annual report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

St. Louis was No. 1 for gonorrhea and chlamydia cases, and fourth for syphilis, compared to other counties and independent cities in the U.S. The report, which was released Tuesday and compiled statistics from last year, states in St. Louis there were approximately 739 cases of gonorrhea, about 1,449 cases of chlamydia and about 42 cases of syphilis, all per 100,000 people.

The numbers could be described as askew since St. Louis is one of the few cities reporting numbers just from the city and not combining the population of the county.

In St. Louis County, there were 280 cases of gonorrhea per 100,000 people, about 647 cases of chlamydia and about 13 cases of syphilis. 

You can read the full report from the CDC, here.

According to previous CDC reports, St. Louis had often led the nation in rates of STDs for the past two decades. 

Across the entire U.S., infections from three sexually transmitted diseases have risen for the fifth consecutive year.

More than 1.7 million cases of chlamydia were reported last year. The infection rate rose 3% from 2017.

It's the most ever reported in a year, though the trend is mainly attributed to increased testing.

About 580,000 gonorrhea cases were reported. That's the highest number since 1991. The rate rose 5%. Scientists worry antibiotic resistance may be a factor.

And the syphilis rate rose 15%. About 35,000 cases of the most contagious forms of the disease were reported — also the most since 1991.

The increases coincided with public health funding cuts and clinic closures.