STD cases up in San Diego County

Cases and rates of syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia in San Diego County continued to rise for the third consecutive year in 2017 and were at the highest level in the last two decades, new data from the County Health and Human Services Agency revealed. Cases of infectious syphilis increased by 15.2 percent, from 981 cases in 2016 to 1,130 cases in 2017.

Last year, the overall rate of early syphilis was 34.1 cases per 100,000 persons, a 14.4 percent increase from 2016. The rate among men was 22.4 times the rate among women, and 85.5 percent of cases were in gay and bisexual men. The highest rat...