St. Paul Pioneer Press (04.18.12) - Tuesday, April 24, 2012
State STD statistics reached an all-time high in 2011. The
19,547 recorded cases marked a 9 percent increase over 2010's
18,009 cases, according to a Minnesota Department of Health
(MDH) report released April 19.
New STD records have been set for nine of the past 10 years,
"an ongoing trend" that MDH official Peter Carr attributes in
part to increased chlamydia screening. "If you look for more
of it, you'll find more of it," he said.
"It's also likely that there's more disease transmission and
more chlamydia occurring in our communities," Carr continued.
Chlamydia remained Minnesota's top reported infectious disease
in 2011 with 16,898 cases; 15,509 cases were reported in 2010.
Furthermore, syphilis cases of any stage climbed to 366 in
2011, and gonorrhea cases went up 6 percent to 2,283 cases. A
separate MDH report will address HIV/AIDS later this month.
"All these infections are preventable," said Carr, "by
delaying the start of sexual activity, limiting the number of
sexual partners and practicing safer sex [such as] correct and
consistent condom use."