Bad news: as summer (colloquially known as hoe season) turns into cuffing season, STD rates are soaring.
Diseases have seen a year-on-year rise for the last four, topping the record high set in 2016 by 200,000 to reach the 2.3 million mark in the US. Almost half of the cases were chlamydia, which was most commonly diagnosed in girls age 15-24. However, rates of syphilis and gonorrhea have also seen an increase.
As CNN reports, Dr. Gail Bolan, director of the Division of STD Prevention at the CDC, called the rise “very concerning”. “We haven’t seen anything like this for two decades,” she added.
There are concerns that the rise in syphilis might be linked to the opioid epidemic, with David Harvey from the National Coalition of STD Directors theorising that the numbers could be the result of women exchanging sex for drugs.
Here in the UK, there was news of a new STI that causes flesh-eating ulcers on the genitals. There was a 20 per cent rise in syphilis cases in the UK last year, and a 22 per cent rise in gonorrhea diagnoses. Given that the country is grappling with a new strain of ‘super gonorrhea’ that is resistant to antibiotics it’s not looking like a good time to date. For now it is much safer to watch To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and steer clear of engaging in any actual romance.