How True…110 Million Americans Are Infected WIth An STD At Any Given Time

With the ongoing Ebola outbreak and the patient that has died in Dallas, many people have had their eyeson Health News. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reminding Americans that sexually transmitted diseases continue to be a hidden epidemic.

In the United States, about 20 million new STD cases are reported each year. Because these types ofinfections can go undetected, most patients are not aware that they have an STD and spread it to others easily.  

The CDC says about 110 million Americans are infected with an STD at any given time, according to CBS. This equates to around 50.5 million men and 59.5 women who are infected at any given time. 

Data from 2008 says that the eight most common STDs are: chlamydia, gonorrhea, hepatitis B, genital herpes, HIV, human papillomavirus (HPV), syphilis and trichomoniasis. Gonorrhea is the second most common STD in the U.S. 

The most common STD reported in the U.S. is chlamydia. Because many people who have chlamydia show no symptoms, the number of people who have contracted the infection could be much higher than the CDC thinks. 

Chlamydia can be easily treated. However, it can leave women unable to bare children because chlamydia can often cause pelvic inflammatory disease, which leads to infertility. 

About 50 percent of all new infections occur in people ages 15-24. Gonorrhea is the most common STD among that age group. 

Live Science reported that CDC officials point out that there are a few rather large differences in how common these STDs are.

Chlamydia and HPV, for example, are the two most common newly acquired STDs that infect millions of Americans each year.

However, findings of new infections of HIV and hepatitis B occur in less than 50,000 people each year.

Newly reported STDs cost nearly $16 billion a year in medical costs. Because some people are unable to receive medical care for an STD, or simply do not know they are infected, the CDC believes that numbers may be much higher. 

CDC officials caution that these numbers probably only capture a small fraction of how big a burden STDs are in America.