STD rates hit 20-year high in California

California’s rate of sexually transmitted diseases is at a 20-year high.

The California Department of Public Health said the state ranks first for syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia and congenital syphilis. And the rates are up for the second year in a row.

“Cases of syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia are going up in California at a concerning rate,” Dr. Karen Smith, director of the California Department of Public Health, said Tuesday. “This is the second year in a row that we have seen increases in all three diseases.”

The report found an 11.6 percent increase in STDs from 2014, with a total of 249,224 reportable cases in California for 2015.

State health officials cite less condom use, people having sex with more partners and barriers to care and testing as reasons for the rising STD rates. Improved reporting of the diseases by public health agencies could also be a contributing factor, the state said.

Syphilis is still the least common of the three STDs, but is particularly worrisome because it has led to a resurgence in congenital syphilis, in which an infected pregnant mother transmits the disease to her newborn baby. Congenital syphilis can lead to miscarriages, stillbirths, jaundice and meningitis.

There were 142 babies born with syphilis in California in 2015, a big jump from 30 cases in 2012. California now has the second highest rate of congenital syphilis nationwide.

Fresno County health officials said social media could be fueling the increase in STDs statewide by providing an easy means for people to have multiple sexual partners. But in Fresno County, drug use is driving an epidemic of syphilis cases. The county had the second-highest rate of syphilis in the state in 2015.

“As a general rule, syphilis had primarily been an illness of men having sex with men, but now in our community it’s with people who use methamphetamine and it’s taken off just like wildfire,” said Dr. Ken Bird, the county’s health officer.

Methamphetamine users tend to have several sexual partners and they tend not to use condoms, Bird said.

California’s STD rates are highest among people 15 to 24 years old and especially females. Gay and bisexual men are also at high risk.

California’s in the process of giving $5 million in grants to county health departments for STD prevention, testing and treatment.

This story was originally published October 25, 2016 at 7:49 PM with the headline "STD rates hit 20-year high in California."