Sexually Transmitted Diseases

Goal

Promote healthy sexual behaviors, strengthen community capacity, and increase access to quality services to prevent sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and their complications.

Overview:

STDs refer to more than 25 infectious organisms that are transmitted primarily through sexual activity. STD prevention is an essential primary care strategy for improving reproductive health.1

Despite their burdens, costs, and complications, and the fact that they are largely preventable, STDs remain a significant public health problem in the United States. This problem is largely unrecognized by the public, policymakers, and health care professionals. STDs cause many harmful, often irreversible, and costly clinical complications, such as:

  • Reproductive health problems
  • Fetal and perinatal health problems
  • Cancer
  • Facilitation of the sexual transmission of HIV infection2

Why is Sexually Transmitted Disease Prevention Important?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that there are approximately 19 million new STD infections each year—almost half of them among young people ages 15 to 24.3 The cost of STDs to the U.S. health care system is estimated to be as much as $15.9 billion annually.4 Because many cases of STDs go undiagnosed—and some common viral infections, such as human papillomavirus (HPV) and genital herpes, are not reported to CDC at all—the reported cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis represent only a fraction of the true burden of STDs in the United States.

Untreated STDs can lead to serious long-term health consequences, especially for adolescent girls and young women. CDC estimates that undiagnosed and untreated STDs cause at least 24,000 women in the United States each year to become infertile.5

Additional Resources:

HP2020's National Objectives for Sexually Transmitted Diseases
HHDW Reports on HIV


References

  1. United Nations. Report of the International Conference on Population and Development, Cairo, Egypt, September 5–13, 1994. New York: United Nations; 1995.
  2. Louis ME, Wasserheit JN, Gayle HD, editors. Janus considers the HIV pandemic: Harnessing recent advances to enhance AIDS prevention. Am J Public Health. 1997;87:10-12.
  3. Weinstock H, Berman S, Cates W Jr. Sexually transmitted diseases among American youth: Incidence and prevalence estimates, 2000. Perspect Sex Reprod Health. 2004 Jan–Feb;36(1):6-10.
  4. Chesson HW, Blandford JM, Gift TL, et al. The estimated direct medical cost of sexually transmitted diseases among American youth, 2000. Perspect Sex Reprod Health. 2004 Jan–Feb;36(1):11-9. [Review].
  5. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Unpublished estimate.