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Higher disease rates may mean more people are seeking STD testing

Category: Sexually Transmitted Diseases

Sexually transmitted disease rates may be on the rise in San Francisco, but experts say that this may actually be an encouraging sign, according to the San Francisco Examiner. The numbers could simply mean that more people are seeking STD testing.

Officials from the city's health department said that rates of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis all increased from 2010 to 2011. Normally, this may be an alarming thing, but department has not been able to point to a true cause for the rise. Therefore, higher rates of infection may simply be a result of increased testing.

"Many people are asymptomatic," Kyle Bernstein, of the city's Department of Public Health, told the news source. "So the more screening you do, the more you will find."

It may seem odd that higher rate of STDs could be a good thing, but if the change is attributable to more people seeking STD testing, it could bode well for the city's disease-control efforts. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that regular screening for all sexually-active individuals is one of the most effective methods for stopping the spread of infections among populations.