Policy Statement, Press Release
Out-of-control STI Epidemic Continues to Put Lives at Risk
CDC Data Highlights Need for Federal Funds to Curb Rapidly Growing STI Crisis
Out-of-control STI Epidemic Continues to Put Lives at Risk
CDC Data Highlights Need for Federal Funds to Curb Rapidly Growing STI Crisis
Immediate Release: January 30, 2024
Contact: Elizabeth Finley, efinley@ncsddc.org, 919-749-7309
Washington, D.C. — Today, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released its 2022 STD Surveillance Report showing that syphilis and chlamydia numbers have climbed to record highs and that the nation continues to struggle to gain control of the epidemics of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The data show an 80% increase in syphilis over five years, as well as an alarming 3,755 congenital syphilis cases. Today’s reported STI numbers are from 2022 and do not reflect the impact of the shortage of congenital syphilis treatment drug Bicillin L-A, which started last spring, or last summer’s STI workforce cuts in the debt ceiling deal. The National Coalition of STD Directors (NCSD) issued the following statement in response to the newly released data:
“The CDC’s latest STI data shows that our nation is facing a rapidly deteriorating public health crisis with real lives at stake. STIs – especially syphilis – will continue to spiral out of control until the administration and Congress provide communities with the funding they need to provide the most basic screening, treatment, and prevention services.”
“The 2022 surveillance data shows millions of people were impacted by entirely preventable infections. Increasingly, though, women and babies have been forced to bear the most devastating consequences of the nation’s STI epidemic as syphilis and congenital syphilis continue to rage with treatment shortages, workforce cuts, and attacks on women’s healthcare only adding to the fire. The newly announced federal syphilis task force and the limited import of Extencilline are steps in the right direction, but the nation needs a response that fully meets the moment: one that pairs the new attention from HHS with the resources communities need to restore last year’s public health workforce cuts and implement the basic screening and treatment services HHS recommends”
“The 2022 data shows hundreds of lives lost and millions of infections, but it doesn’t yet reflect the workforce cuts and drug shortages states have experienced in the time since – the reality is that the 2023 data will be worse. The Biden administration deserves praise for putting the spotlight on the most severe consequence of the nation’s STI epidemic – congenital syphilis – but we know all too well that federal leadership will prove hollow if communities don’t have the funding they need to get the job done.”
