More than 40K STDs diagnosed each year in Arizona

PHOENIX — The number of sexually transmitted diseases diagnosed in Arizona has reached more than 40,000 a year, according to the state’s Department of Health Services.

Jessica Rigler, a spokeswoman for the Arizona Department of Health Services, said the department is seeing more than 40,000 cases of STDs each year.

Dr. Robert England with the Maricopa County Department of Public Health said his department is also noticing an uptick, with the number of Gonorrhea infections tripling over the last six years. The number of Gonorrhea cases in Arizona is more than 8,000, he said.

There are also 22,000 cases of Chlamydia in Arizona. England said the disease should be “easily controllable, and yet we are losing the battle.”

But England said the most concerning spike in sexually transmitted diseases is with Syphilis. England said his department has recorded more than 800 cases of Syphilis.

“Our trend that we’re experiencing is mirrored nationally, increasing rates across the board,” he said. “Syphilis is an old disease that many thought we were going virtually eliminate decades ago.”

“Syphilis, Gonorrhea, and Chlamydia should be easy to control,” he added. “We have got good simple testing, and a good single dose treatment for all three of those diseases.”

But England said doctors are also seeing a rise in HIV cases in Arizona, with more than 2,000 people getting diagnosed with the disease over the last 16 years.

Since STDs are transmitted by bacteriological infection, England said the reason for the explosion in numbers is simple: People are not having safe sex or getting tested as often as they should.

England said the reason for this is because Americans are embarrassed to talk about sex, which leads to hiding the behavior — and the consequences are truly severe.

“We are at a rate of infection this year to approach 40-thousand cases combined and I have got less than twenty people to do all of that work,” he said.

For those who are sexually-active, there is a smartphone app to find places to get tested for STDs. England said the app is called “Check After” and it provides users with info on where to get tested. They can also do it at a Maricopa County Public Health clinic.

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