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Public health departments continue to battle climbing STD rates

Category: Sexually Transmitted Diseases

In an effort to reduce the rates of infection of sexually transmitted diseases, public health departments are recommending STD testing for all sexually active adults.

Officials in Salt Lake City have recently seen a significant uptick in the number of men who have same-sex relations with an infected partner. For this reason, they are making special efforts to reach out to this community and encourage more STD testing, according to the Salt Lake City Tribune.

"We need to sound the alarm," Lynn Beltran, who oversees sexually transmitted disease programs for the Salt Lake Valley Health Department told the news source. "Men engaging in sexual activity with other men need to realize this is out there."

She added that, through the month of June, a total of 40 new syphilis cases had been diagnosed in the region compared to 37 for the whole of the previous year.

Rates of syphilis continue to climb nationally as well. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently released a report that showed an 18 percent increase in the number cases diagnosed in 2008 compared to the previous year, according to Medical News Today.