Quick Hit: New Data on U.S. Sexually Transmitted Infections

If you need something to read over the long weekend and have a really strong interest in sexually transmitted infections, you’re in luck – the CDC has released a 100+ page report, Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance, 2009, on statistics and trends in STIs.

The report focuses primarily on the common STIs of gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis, with data on rates by geographic region, age, sex, and race/ethnicity. It also discusses antibiotic resistance (*shudders*) and drugs in use for treatment of these infections. This publication also includes sections on specific populations, including racial/ethnic minorities, adolescents, and people as they become incarcerated. There’s a lot of data here that might be useful for health care providers, program planners and activists, or other public health types.

There *is* a special section on women, but “women and infants” are lumped together, and the focus is primarily on how STIs might affect women’s reproductive capacity. There is no real attention there to women who may be past their reproductive years, who do not plan to have children, or who are not heterosexually partnered. *Sigh*