WASHINGTON, D.C. – Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that rates of sexually transmitted diseases in the U.S. dropped early in the pandemic but increased by the end of 2020.
The data was published Tuesday in the 2020 STD surveillance report. By the end of that year, Gonorrhea rates had risen ten percent.
Rates of Syphilis were up seven percent. That included increased rates of the disease among newborns, called Congenital Syphilis.
It went up 15 percent from 2019, representing a 235 percent increase from 2016.
Congenital Syphilis occurs when a woman with syphilis passes it to her baby during pregnancy. It can lead to serious health problems and death.
Commenting on the data Tuesday, a CDC official highlighted the pandemic’s dramatic disruption to life as we knew it.
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