News

The good news is that combined cases of the three most common STIs—chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis—in 2024 were down by 9% from the previous year, marking the third straight year of declines. Reported chlamydia cases fell by 8%, gonorrhea infections by 10%, and primary and secondary syphilis (the most infectious stages of the disease) by 22% compared with 2023, with similar declines seen in men and women. The CDC attributes the declines to better awareness of STIs, increased use of newly approved at-home STI tests, better point-of-care tests, and use of doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis (doxy PEP), which involves taking the antibiotic doxycycline within 72 hours of unprotected sex. Lack of timely testing, adequate treatment Although congenital syphilis is preventable with regular testing and proper treatment of syphilis during pregnancy, the CDC noted in a 2023 Vital Signs report that lack of timely testing and adequate treatment contributes to substantial proportions of cases in all parts of the country and all racial and ethnic groups.