America's 100 STD hotspot cities revealed: And the shocking wealthy town with a dirty secret

Daily Mail​

01-05-2025

Cities in the eastern half of the US may be rife with sexually transmitted infections, a new analysis shows.
Innerbody Research, a medical website run by a team of scientists, examined CDC 's 2023 data for rates of STIs across America and found the 10 cities with the highest rate of infections, with Detroit, Michigan, topping the list.
The Midwestern city had about 1,500 infections per 100,000 residents in 2023, jumping eight places from the previous year's report.
It was followed by Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Montgomery, Alabama, in second and third place.
While many top cities have consistently been ranked in the website's analysis, a surprising place has made its debut.
Washington, DC - the nation's capital and home to the White House - was ranked in seventh place for the first time due to modern-day dating trends and new social constructs, experts say.
Memphis, Tennessee; Baltimore, Maryland and New Orleans, Louisiana, made up fourth, fifth and sixth places, respectively.
Washington DC was found to have a rate of 1,334 overall STI cases per 100,000 people as of 2023.
Broken down, there were 22,738 cases of chlamydia, 6,450 cases of gonorrhea, 489 cases of syphilis and 593 cases of HIV.
The city, where reports suggest it takes having a net worth of over $2million to feel wealthy, has reportedly seen an uptick of cases among younger generations.
According to Shenell Williams-Davis, a sexual health coordinator with Mary's Center Public Health Outreach Services in DC, new dating trends and relationship structures may be to blame.
She told The Washington Informer: 'The doors of [varied sexual preferences] have opened up, and a lot of people are starting to experience [a multitude of things].
'It's no longer just one-on-one [sexual relationships], but [people experiencing multiple partner relationships].
'So that brings the issue where I may treat three people, but where are the other two in the group, or I can treat three, but where are the other four people? This [creates a breeding ground] for reinfection.'
Years of rising rates of STIs has culminated in what experts call a public health crisis, driven by decreased condom usage and poor sex education.
Detroit saw 20,830 cases of chlamydia, 7,983 cases of gonorrhea, 628 cases of syphilis and 386 cases of HIV.
Across the US, Chlamydia is the most common STI, with 492.2 cases per 100,000 people as of 2023.
And the rate is increasing, mostly driven by a recent uptick in the number of seniors citizens contracting chlamydia due to increased sexual activity in later life, limited sexual health education, low condom use and the misconception that STIs don't affect older adults.
It is often called a 'silent infection' as many people experience no symptoms but if they do appear, they can be mild and may not show up for several weeks after exposure - making it easier to spread as people keep having unprotected sex without knowing they are suffering from the illness.
Common symptoms of chlamydia include abnormal or foul-smelling vaginal discharge, pelvic pain, abdominal tenderness, pain during intercourse, irregular bleeding, and fever.
Untreated chlamydia can lead to several long-term complications, primarily affecting reproductive health, including infertility and ectopic pregnancy in women.
Meanwhile, Gonorrhea cases fell for a second year in 2024, declining seven percent from 2022 to below pre-pandemic levels due to an increased availability of at-home STI kits.
Untreated gonorrhea can lead to serious health issues, including pelvic inflammatory disease and infertility. And while the infection can usually be easily treated, some strains are resistant to commonly used antibiotics - making them harder to clear.
Syphilis has increased by one percent nationwide and the rise - while small - is worrying public health officials, as the disease can advance to damage the brain, nerves, eyes, and heart if it goes untreated.
It is most commonly reported among 30- to 34-year-olds, a slightly older group compared to other infections due to peak sexual activity during those years.
Symptoms begin with small open sores on the genitals, mouth, or rectum, as well as enlarged lymph nodes.
In the second stage, a skin rash develops, as well as genitals sores, fever, muscle and joint pain, vision changes, and loss of appetite.
When the infection advances further, it can inflame and damage heart valves and slowly degrade the brain, causing personality changes, memory loss, difficulty making decisions, and strokes.
While most of the illnesses can be cured with a round of antibiotics and abstinence from sex, HIV can attack the body's immune system and lead to AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome).
Once infected with HIV, there is no effective cure currently and proper medical care to control the virus is required. In the US, approximately 8,000 people die each year from HIV-related illnesses.
People, particularly young people, are using condoms less regularly. They went from the top contraceptive tool for 75 percent of men in 2011 to 42 percent of men by 2021.
Despite making up only a quarter of the population, young people between 15 to 24 years old account up for about half of new STIs every year.
About one in 100 US adults has an STI, including over 209,000 cases of syphilis, over 600,000 cases of gonorrhea, and over 1.6million cases of chlamydia, according to the CDC.
However, there are some positive signs that a decade-long rise could be plateauing and even turning a corner. There were 2.4million sexually transmitted infections in 2023, a two percent decline from 2022.
Eric Rodriguez, CEO and co-founder of Innerbody Research, SAID: 'The number one thing that an individual can do to help address this issue is to get tested more frequently.
'What we've found is that people don't realize how important it is to get tested regularly, because many STDs are manageable if they are caught early. Many of them are curable. But you can't manage and you can't cure what you don't know.'