Oregon health authorities are reporting jumps in three common sexually transmitted infections (STI) prompting officials to call the situation “alarming”. In a Oregon Health Authority (OHA) Communicable Disease Summary for 2013 released Wednesday, the state reported increases in chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis.
The number of early syphilis ( primary, secondary and early-latent infections of less than one year’s duration) cases in the state in 2013 was 404, the most in an annual tally since 1989. It was up from 312 in 2012 and 57 cases 10 years ago.
Health officials reports the vast majority, 96 percent of the cases were men, and 77% of those interviewed reported having sex with men. More than half of all cases (222) were co-infected with HIV. For more infectious disease news and information, visit and “like” the Infectious Disease News Facebook page.
Another STI, gonorrhea didn’t fare any better in Oregon last year. The report notes the 1,741 gonorrhea cases reported during 2013 represent an 18% increase from 2012 (1,470), with three out of four cases reported in males. In addition, the most common bacterial STI in the US, chlamydia, increased from 13,499 in 2012 to 14,265 last year.
Related: Gay and Bisexual Men account for the vast majority of syphilis cases in men during 2009–2012: CDC
The Statesman Journal reports Dr. Sean Schafer, a medical epidemiologist with OHA as saying, “We haven’t seen numbers like this since the late ’80s, early 1990s. These are definitely alarming.”
